STIGUI
V-255357CAT II — Medium severitySV-255357r961800_rule

Azure SQL DB must generate audit records when unsuccessful attempts to modify privileges/permissions occur.

Rule version ASQL-00-013600 · STIG v2 · 2026-08-25

Discussion

Failed attempts to change the permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized attempts to elevate or restrict privileges could go undetected.

In an SQL environment, modifying permissions is typically done via the GRANT, REVOKE, and DENY commands.

To aid in diagnosis, it is necessary to keep track of failed attempts in addition to the successful ones.

Check

Review Azure SQL Database configuration to verify that audit records are produced when unsuccessful attempts to modify privileges/permissions occur.

To determine if an audit is configured, execute the following script. Run this TSQL command to determine if SQL Auditing AuditActionGroups are configured: SELECT DISTINCT sd.audit_action_name FROM sys.database_audit_specification_details sd JOIN sys.database_audit_specifications s ON s.database_specification_id = sd.database_specification_id WHERE (name = 'SqlDbAuditing_ServerAuditSpec' /*Server Audit*/ OR name = 'SqlDbAuditing_AuditSpec') /*Database Audit*/ AND s.is_state_enabled = 1 ORDER BY sd.audit_action_name

If no values exist for AuditActionGroup, this is a finding.

Verify the following AuditActionGroup(s) are configured: DATABASE_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP DATABASE_ROLE_MEMBER_CHANGE_GROUP SCHEMA_OBJECT_OWNERSHIP_CHANGE_GROUP SCHEMA_OBJECT_PERMISSION_CHANGE_GROUP

If any listed AuditActionGroups do not exist in the configuration, this is a finding.

Fix

Deploy an Azure SQL Database audit.

Refer to the supplemental file "AzureSQLDatabaseAudit.txt" PowerShell script.

Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.sql/set-azsqlserveraudit">https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.sql/set-azsqlserveraudit

Identifiers

Group ID
V-255357
Group title
SRG-APP-000495-DB-000329
Rule ID
SV-255357r961800_rule
Check ID
C-59030r871195_chk
Fix ID
F-58974r871196_fix