1. Security Guide
  2. Monitoring Database Activity with Auditing
  3. Configuring Audit Policies

26 Configuring Audit Policies

Unified auditing supports custom unified audit policies, predefined unified auditing policies, and fine-grained auditing.

Parent topic: Monitoring Database Activity with Auditing

26.1 Overview of Common Audit Configurations

For both mixed mode and unified auditing, a common audit configuration is visible and enforced across all PDBs.

Audit configurations are either local or common. The scoping rules that apply to other local or common phenomena, such as users and roles, all apply to audit configurations.

Note:

Audit initialization parameters exist at the CDB level and not in each PDB.

PDBs support the following auditing options:

  • Object auditing

    Object auditing refers to audit configurations for specific objects. Only common objects can be part of the common audit configuration. A local audit configuration cannot contain common objects.

  • Audit policies

    Audit policies can be local or common:

    • Local audit policies

      A local audit policy applies to a single PDB. You can enforce local audit policies for local and common users in this PDB only. Attempts to enforce local audit policies across all containers result in an error.

      In all cases, enforcing of a local audit policy is part of the local auditing framework.

    • Common audit policies

      A common audit policy applies to all containers. This policy can only contain actions, system privileges, common roles, and common objects. You can apply a common audit policy only to common users. Attempts to enforce a common audit policy for a local user across all containers result in an error.

A common audit configuration is stored in the SYS schema of the root. A local audit configuration is stored in the SYS schema of the PDB to which it applies.

Audit trails are stored in the SYS or AUDSYS schemas of the relevant PDBs. Operating system and XML audit trails for PDBs are stored in subdirectories of the directory specified by the AUDIT_FILE_DEST initialization parameter.

Parent topic: Configuring Audit Policies

26.2 Selecting an Auditing Type

You can audit general activities (such as SQL statement actions), commonly used auditing activities, or fine-grained audit scenarios.

Parent topic: Configuring Audit Policies

26.2.1 Auditing SQL Statements, Privileges, and Other General Activities

You can audit many types of objects, from SQL statements to other Oracle Database components, such as Oracle Database Vault..

In addition, you can create policies that use conditions. However, if you want to audit specific columns or use event handlers, you must use fine-grained auditing.

The general steps for performing this type of auditing are as follows:

  1. In most cases, use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to create an audit policy. If you must audit application context values, then use the AUDIT statement.
  2. If you are creating an audit policy, then use the AUDIT statement to enable it and optionally apply (or exclude) the audit settings to one or more users, including administrative users who log in with the SYSDBA administrative privilege (for example, the SYS user).

    AUDIT also enables you to create an audit record upon an action's success, failure, or both.

  3. Query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view to find the generated audit records.
  4. Periodically archive and purge the contents of the audit trail.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Selecting an Auditing Type

26.2.2 Auditing Commonly Used Security-Relevant Activities

Oracle Database provides a set default unified audit policies that you can choose from for commonly used security-relevant audits.

The general steps for performing this type of auditing are as follows:
  1. Select from one of the predefined unified audit policies.
  2. Use the AUDIT statement enable the policy and optionally apply (or exclude) the audit settings to one or more users.
  3. Query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view to find the generated audit records.
  4. Periodically archive and purge the contents of the audit trail.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Selecting an Auditing Type

26.2.3 Auditing Specific, Fine-Grained Activities

Use fine-grained auditing if you want to audit individual columns and use event handlers.

This type of auditing provides all the features available in unified audit policies. The general steps for fine-grained auditing are as follows:
  1. Create a fine-grained auditing policy.
  2. Use the DBMS_FGA PL/SQL package to configure fine-grained auditing policies.
  3. Query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL or ALL_AUDIT_POLICIES view to find the generated audit records.
  4. Periodically archive and purge the contents of the audit trail.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Selecting an Auditing Type

26.3 Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY and AUDIT statements to use unified auditing policies.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Configuring Audit Policies

26.3.1 About Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and AUDIT

You can audit the several types of activities, using unified audit policies and the AUDIT SQL statement.

The kinds of activities that you can audit are as follows:

  • User accounts (including administrative users who log in with the SYSDBA administrative privilege), roles, and privileges

  • Object actions, such as dropping a table or a running a procedure

  • Application context values

  • Activities from Oracle Database Real Application Security, Oracle Recovery Manager, Oracle Machine Learning for SQL, Oracle Data Pump, Oracle SQL*Loader direct path events, Oracle Database Vault, and Oracle Label Security

To accomplish this, depending on what you want to audit, use the following:

  • Unified audit policies. A unified audit policy is a named group of audit settings that enable you to audit a particular aspect of user behavior in the database. To create the policy, you use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement. The policy can be as simple as auditing the activities of a single user or you can create complex audit policies that use conditions. You can have more than one audit policy in effect at a time in a database. An audit policy can contain both system-wide and object-specific audit options. Most of the auditing that you will do for general activities (including standard auditing) requires the use of audit policies.

  • AUDIT and NOAUDIT SQL statements. The AUDIT and NOAUDIT SQL statements enable you to, respectively, enable and disable an audit policy. The AUDIT statement also lets you include or exclude specific users for the policy. The AUDIT and NOAUDIT statements also enable you to audit application context values.

  • For Oracle Recovery Manager, you do not create unified audit policies. The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view automatically captures commonly audited Recovery Manager events.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.2 Best Practices for Creating Unified Audit Policies

You can enable multiple policies at a time in the database, but ideally, limit the number of enabled policies.

The unified audit policy syntax is designed so that you can write one policy that covers all the audit settings that your database needs. A good practice is to group related options into a single policy instead of creating multiple small policies. This enables you to manage the policies much easier. As an example, each predefined audit policies contains multiple audit settings within one unified audit policy.

Limiting the number of enabled audit policies for a user session has the following benefits:

  • It reduces the logon overhead that is associated with loading the audit policy's details into the session's UGA memory. If the enabled policy count is less, then less time is spent in loading the policy information.

  • It reduces the session's UGA memory consumption, because a fewer number of policies are required to be cached in UGA memory.

  • It makes the internal audit check functionality more efficient, which determines whether to generate an audit record for its associated event.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.3 Syntax for Creating a Unified Audit Policy

To create a unified audit policy, you must use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement.

When you create a unified audit policy, Oracle Database stores it in a first class object that is owned by the SYS schema, not in the schema of the user who created the policy.

Example 26-1 shows the syntax for the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement.

Example 26-1 Syntax for the CREATE AUDIT POLICY Statement

CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name
    { {privilege_audit_clause [action_audit_clause ] [role_audit_clause ]}
        | { action_audit_clause  [role_audit_clause ] } 
        | { role_audit_clause }
     }        
    [WHEN audit_condition EVALUATE PER {STATEMENT|SESSION|INSTANCE}] 
    [ONLY TOPLEVEL]
    [CONTAINER = {CURRENT | ALL}];

In this specification:

  • privilege_audit_clause describes privilege-related audit options. The detailed syntax for configuring privilege audit options is as follows: 

    privilege_audit_clause  :=  PRIVILEGES  privilege1 [, privilege2]

  • action_audit_clause and standard_actions describe object action-related audit options. The syntax is as follows: 

    action_audit_clause := {standard_actions | component_actions}
                                         [, component_actions ]
standard_actions :=
     ACTIONS action1 [ ON {schema.obj_name
                                          | DIRECTORY directory_name
                                          | MINING MODEL schema.obj_name
                                           }
                ]                                     
           [, action2 [ ON {schema.obj_name
                                          | DIRECTORY directory_name
                                          | MINING MODEL schema.obj_name  
                   }
                ]

  • component_actions enables you to create an audit policy for Oracle Label Security, Oracle Database Real Application Security, Oracle Database Vault, Oracle Data Pump, or Oracle SQL*Loader. The syntax is: 

    component_actions :=
     ACTIONS COMPONENT=[OLS|XS] action1 [,action2 ] |
     ACTIONS COMPONENT=DV DV_action ON DV_object_name |
     ACTIONS COMPONENT=DATAPUMP [ EXPORT | IMPORT | ALL ] |
     ACTIONS COMPONENT=DIRECT_LOAD [ LOAD | ALL ] |
     ACTIONS COMPONENT=PROTOCOL [ HTTP | FTP ]

  • role_audit_clause enables you to audit roles. The syntax is: 

    role_audit_clause := ROLES role1 [, role2]

  • WHEN audit_condition EVALUATE PER enables you to specify a function to create a condition for the audit policy and the evaluation frequency. You must include the EVALUATE PER clause with the WHEN condition. The syntax is: 

    WHEN 'audit_condition := function operation value_list'
EVALUATE PER {STATEMENT|SESSION|INSTANCE}
  • ONLY TOPLEVEL allows users to audit only the top-level operations that are performed for the actions that were configured as part of this audit policy.

  • CONTAINER, allows users to audit only the top-level operations that were performed for the actions that were configured as part of this audit policy.

This syntax is designed to audit any of the components listed in the policy. For example, suppose you create the following policy:

CREATE AUDIT POLICY table_pol
PRIVILEGES CREATE ANY TABLE, DROP ANY TABLE
ROLES emp_admin, sales_admin;

The audit trail will capture SQL statements that require the CREATE ANY TABLE system privilege or the DROP ANY TABLE system privilege or any system privilege directly granted to the role emp_admin or any system privilege directly granted to the role sales_admin. (Be aware that it audits privileges that are directly granted, not privileges that are granted recursively through a role.)

After you create the policy, you must enable it by using the AUDIT statement. Optionally, you can apply the policy to one or more users, exclude one or more users from the policy, and designate whether an audit record is written when the audited action succeeds, fails, or both succeeds or fails.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.4 Auditing Roles

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to audit database roles.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.4.1 About Role Auditing

When you audit a role, Oracle Database audits all system privileges that are directly granted to the role.

You can audit any role, including user-defined roles. If you create a common unified audit policy for roles with the ROLES audit option, then you must specify only common roles in the role list. When such a policy is enabled, Oracle Database audits all system privileges that are commonly and directly granted to the common role. The system privileges that are locally granted to the common role will not be audited. To find if a role was commonly granted, query the DBA_ROLES data dictionary view. To find if the privileges granted to the role were commonly granted, query the ROLE_SYS_PRIVS view.

26.3.4.2 Configuring Role Unified Audit Policies

To create a unified audit policy to capture role use, you must include the ROLES clause in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement.

  • Use the following syntax to create a unified audit policy that audits roles: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name 
 ROLES role1 [, role2];

For example: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_roles_pol 
 ROLES IMP_FULL_DATABASE, EXP_FULL_DATABASE;

You can build more complex role unified audit policies, such as those that include conditions. Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.4.3 Example: Auditing the Predefined Common DBA Role

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit roles in both the root and in PDBs.

The following example shows how to audit a predefined common role DBA.

Example 26-2 Auditing the Predefined Common DBA Role

CREATE AUDIT POLICY role_dba_audit_pol 
 ROLES DBA
 CONTAINER = ALL;

AUDIT POLICY role_dba_audit_pol;

Parent topic: Auditing Roles

26.3.5 Auditing System Privileges

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to audit system privileges.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.5.1 About System Privilege Auditing

System privilege auditing audits activities that successfully use a system privilege, such as READ ANY TABLE.

In this kind of auditing, SQL statements that require the audited privilege to succeed are recorded.

A single unified audit policy can contain both privilege and action audit options. Do not audit the privilege use of administrative users such as SYS. Instead, audit their object actions.

Be aware that a single query can generate multiple audit records, one for each object that is being accessed in the query and if auditing is enabled on all these objects. For example, while you query the view, multiple audit records can be generated for each of the underlying objects that is referenced by the view itself.

Note:

You can audit system privileges, objects, database events, and so on. However, if you must find database privilege usage (for example, which privileges that have been granted to a given role are used), and generate a report of the used and unused privileges, then you can create a privilege capture.

26.3.5.2 System Privileges That Can Be Audited

You can audit the use of almost any system privilege.

To find a list of auditable system privileges, you can query the SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_MAP table.

For example: 

SELECT NAME FROM SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_MAP;

NAME
-------------
ALTER ANY CUBE BUILD PROCESS
SELECT ANY CUBE BUILD PROCESS
ALTER ANY MEASURE FOLDER
...

Similar to action audit options, privilege auditing audits the use of system privileges that have been granted to database users. If you set similar audit options for both SQL statement and privilege auditing, then only a single audit record is generated. For example, if two policies exist, with one auditing EXECUTE PROCEDURE specifically on the HR.PROC procedure and the second auditing EXECUTE PROCEDURE in general (all procedures), then only one audit record is written.

Privilege auditing does not occur if the action is already permitted by the existing owner and object privileges. Privilege auditing is triggered only if the privileges are insufficient, that is, only if what makes the action possible is a system privilege. For example, suppose that user SCOTT has been granted the SELECT ANY TABLE privilege and SELECT ANY TABLE is being audited. If SCOTT selects their own table (for example, SCOTT.EMP), then the SELECT ANY TABLE privilege is not used. Because SCOTT performed the SELECT statement within their own schema, no audit record is generated. On the other hand, if SCOTT selects from another schema (for example, the HR.EMPLOYEES table), then an audit record is generated. Because SCOTT selected a table outside their own schema, they needed to use the SELECT ANY TABLE privilege.

26.3.5.3 System Privileges That Cannot Be Audited

Several system privileges cannot be audited.

These privileges are:

  • INHERIT ANY PRIVILEGE

  • INHERIT PRIVILEGE

  • TRANSLATE ANY SQL

  • TRANSLATE SQL

26.3.5.4 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy to Capture System Privilege Use

The PRIVILEGES clause in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement audits system privilege use.

  • Use the following syntax to create a unified audit policy that audits privileges: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name 
 PRIVILEGES privilege1 [, privilege2];

    For example: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY my_simple_priv_policy
 PRIVILEGES SELECT ANY TABLE, CREATE LIBRARY;

You can build more complex privilege unified audit policies, such as those that include conditions. Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.5.5 Example: Auditing a User Who Has ANY Privileges

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit users for ANY privileges.

Example 26-3 shows how to audit several ANY privileges of the user HR_MGR.

Example 26-3 Auditing a User Who Has ANY Privileges

CREATE AUDIT POLICY hr_mgr_audit_pol
 PRIVILEGES DROP ANY TABLE, DROP ANY CONTEXT, DROP ANY INDEX, DROP ANY LIBRARY;

AUDIT POLICY hr_mgr_audit_pol BY HR_MGR;
26.3.5.6 Example: Using a Condition to Audit a System Privilege

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can create an audit policy that uses a condition to audit a system privilege.

Example 26-4 shows how to use a condition to audit privileges that are used by two operating system users, psmith and jrawlins.

Example 26-4 Using a Condition to Audit a System Privilege

CREATE AUDIT POLICY os_users_priv_pol
 PRIVILEGES SELECT ANY TABLE, CREATE LIBRARY
 WHEN 'SYS_CONTEXT (''USERENV'', ''OS_USER'') IN (''psmith'', ''jrawlins'')'
 EVALUATE PER SESSION;

AUDIT POLICY os_users_priv_pol;
26.3.5.7 How System Privilege Unified Audit Policies Appear in the Audit Trail

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists system privilege audit events.

The following example shows a list of privileges used by the operating system user psmith. 

SELECT SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
 WHERE OS_USERNAME = 'PSMITH' AND UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES = 'OS_USERS_PRIV_POL';

SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED
----------------------
SELECT ANY TABLE
DROP ANY TABLE

Note:

If you have created an audit policy for the SELECT ANY TABLE system privilege, whether the user has exercised the READ object privilege or the SELECT object privilege will affect the actions that the audit trail captures.

26.3.6 Auditing Administrative Users

You can create unified audit policies to capture the actions of administrative user accounts, such as SYS.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.6.1 Administrative User Accounts That Can Be Audited

Oracle Database provides administrative user accounts that are associated with administrative privileges.

Table 26-1 lists default administrative user accounts and the administrative privileges with which they are typically associated.

Table 26-1 Administrative Users and Administrative Privileges

Administrative User Account Administrative Privilege

SYS

SYSDBA

PUBLICFoot 1

SYSOPER

SYSASM

SYSASM

SYSBACKUP

SYSBACKUP

SYSDG

SYSDG

SYSKM

SYSKM

Footnote 1

PUBLIC refers to the user PUBLIC, which is the effective user when you log in with the SYSOPER administrative privilege. It does not refer to the PUBLIC role.

26.3.6.2 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy to Capture Administrator Activities

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit administrative users.

  • To audit administrative users, create a unified audit policy and then apply this policy to the user, the same as you would for non-administrative users. Note that top-level statements by administrative users are mandatorily audited until the database opens.

26.3.6.3 Example: Auditing the SYS User

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit the SYS user.

Example 26-5 shows how to audit grants of the DBMS_FGA PL/SQL package by user SYS.

Example 26-5 Auditing the SYS User

CREATE AUDIT POLICY dbms_fga_grants 
 ACTIONS GRANT
 ON DBMS_FGA;

AUDIT POLICY dbms_fga_grants BY SYS;

26.3.7 Auditing Object Actions

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to audit object actions.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.7.1 About Auditing Object Actions

You can audit actions performed on specific objects, such as UPDATE statements on the HR.EMPLOYEES table.

The audit can include both DDL and DML statements that were used on the object. A single unified audit policy can contain both privilege and action audit options, as well as audit options set for multiple objects.

For tables that contain sensitive information, Oracle recommends that you include the ACTIONS ALL clause in the unified audit policy so that the audit record will capture indirect SELECT operations.

Parent topic: Auditing Object Actions

26.3.7.2 Object Actions That Can Be Audited

Auditing object actions can be broad or focused (for example, auditing all user actions or only a select list of user actions).

Table 26-2 lists the object-level standard database action options. Audit policies for the SELECT SQL statement will capture READ actions as well as SELECT actions.

Table 26-2 Object-Level Standard Database Action Audit Option

Object SQL Action That Can Be Audited

Table

ALTER, AUDIT, COMMENT, DELETE, FLASHBACK, GRANT, INDEX, INSERT, LOCK, RENAME, SELECT, UPDATE

View

AUDIT, COMMENT, DELETE, FLASHBACK, GRANT, INSERT, LOCK, RENAME, SELECT, UPDATE

Sequence

ALTER, AUDIT, GRANT, SELECT

Procedure (including triggers)

AUDIT, EXECUTE, GRANT

Function

AUDIT, EXECUTE, GRANT

Package

AUDIT, EXECUTE, GRANT

Materialized views

ALTER, AUDIT, COMMENT, DELETE, INDEX, INSERT, LOCK, SELECT, UPDATE

Mining Model

AUDIT, COMMENT, GRANT, RENAME, SELECT

Directory

AUDIT, GRANT, READ

Library

EXECUTE, GRANT

Object type

ALTER, AUDIT, GRANT

Java schema objects (source, class, resource)

AUDIT, EXECUTE, GRANT
26.3.7.3 Configuring an Object Action Unified Audit Policy

The ACTIONS clause in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement creates a policy that captures object actions.

  • Use the following syntax to create a unified audit policy that audits object actions: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name 
 ACTIONS action1 [, action2 ON object1] [, action3 ON object2];

For example: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY my_simple_obj_policy
 ACTIONS SELECT ON OE.ORDERS, UPDATE ON HR.EMPLOYEES;

Note that you can audit multiple actions on multiple objects, as shown in this example.

You can build complex object action unified audit policies, such as those that include conditions. Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.7.4 Example: Auditing Actions on SYS Objects

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit actions on SYS objects.

Example 26-6 shows how to create an audit policy that audits SELECT statements on the SYS.USER$ system table. The audit policy applies to all users, including SYS and SYSTEM.

Example 26-6 Auditing Actions on SYS Objects

CREATE AUDIT POLICY select_user_dictionary_table_pol ACTIONS SELECT ON SYS.USER$;

AUDIT POLICY select_user_dictionary_table_pol;

Parent topic: Auditing Object Actions

26.3.7.5 Example: Auditing Multiple Actions on One Object

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit multiple actions on one object.

Example 26-7 shows how to audit multiple SQL statements performed by users jrandolph and phawkins on the app_lib library.

Example 26-7 Auditing Multiple Actions on One Object

CREATE AUDIT POLICY actions_on_hr_emp_pol1
 ACTIONS EXECUTE, GRANT 
 ON app_lib;

AUDIT POLICY actions_on_hr_emp_pol1 BY jrandolph, phawkins;

Parent topic: Auditing Object Actions

26.3.7.6 Example: Auditing GRANT and REVOKE Operations on an Object

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit GRANT and REVOKE operations on objects, such as tables.

Enabling auditing on GRANT operations on an object automatically enables the audit of REVOKE operations on the object as well.

Example 26-8 Auditing GRANT and REVOKE Operations

CREATE AUDIT POLICY grant_revoke_pol
ACTIONS GRANT ON HR.EMPLOYEES;

AUDIT POLICY grant_revoke_pol;

To select from the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view for this type of policy, you can perform a query similar to the following. The grantee name (to whom the privilege is granted) is recorded in the TARGET_USER column. 

SELECT DBUSERNAME, OBJECT_PRIVILEGES, ACTION_NAME, OBJECT_SCHEMA, OBJECT_NAME, TARGET_USER 
FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
WHERE ACTION_NAME IN ('GRANT', 'REVOKE');

Parent topic: Auditing Object Actions

26.3.7.7 Example: Auditing Both Actions and Privileges on an Object

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit both actions and privileges on an object, using a single policy.

Example 26-9 shows how all EXECUTE and GRANT statements on the app_lib library using the CREATE LIBRARY privilege are audited.

Example 26-9 Auditing Both Actions and Privileges on an Object

CREATE AUDIT POLICY actions_on_hr_emp_pol2 
 PRIVILEGES CREATE LIBRARY
 ACTIONS EXECUTE, GRANT
 ON app_lib;

AUDIT POLICY actions_on_hr_emp_pol2 BY jrandolph, phawkins;

You can audit directory objects. For example, suppose you create a directory object that contains a preprocessor program that the ORACLE_LOADER access driver will use. You can audit anyone who runs this program within this directory object.

Parent topic: Auditing Object Actions

26.3.7.8 Example: Auditing All Actions on a Table

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit all actions on a table.

You can use the ALL keyword to audit all actions. Oracle recommends that you audit all actions only on sensitive objects. ALL is useful in that it captures indirect SELECT operations. Example 26-10 shows how to audit all actions on the HR.EMPLOYEES table, except actions by user pmulligan.

Example 26-10 Auditing All Actions on a Table

CREATE AUDIT POLICY all_actions_on_hr_emp_pol 
 ACTIONS ALL ON HR.EMPLOYEES;

AUDIT POLICY all_actions_on_hr_emp_pol EXCEPT pmulligan;
26.3.7.9 Example: Auditing All Actions in the Database

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit all actions in the database.

To prevent the scenario of a large number of audit records being generated and quickly filling up the audit trail, even for all the recursive actions for this audit policy configuration, include the ONLY TOPLEVEL clause in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement. As an alternative to ONLY TOPLEVEL, you can create the ACTIONS ALL policy using a condition to so that only a subset of records are captured.

Note:

Use ACTIONS ALL auditing with caution. Do not enable it for users who must perform online transaction processing (OLTP) workloads. This will avoid generating a large number of audit records.

Example 26-11 shows how to audit all actions in the entire database.

Example 26-11 Auditing All Actions in the Database

CREATE AUDIT POLICY all_actions_pol ACTIONS ALL ONLY TOPLEVEL;

AUDIT POLICY all_actions_pol;
26.3.7.10 How Object Action Unified Audit Policies Appear in the Audit Trail

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists object action audit events.

For example:

SELECT ACTION_NAME, OBJECT_SCHEMA, OBJECT_NAME FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
WHERE DBUSERNAME = 'SYS';

ACTION_NAME OBJECT_SCHEMA OBJECT_NAME
----------- ------------- ------------
SELECT      HR            EMPLOYEES

Parent topic: Auditing Object Actions

26.3.7.11 Auditing Functions, Procedures, Packages, and Triggers

You can audit functions, procedures, PL/SQL packages, and triggers.

The areas that you can audit are as follows:

  • You can individually audit standalone functions, standalone procedures, and PL/SQL packages.

  • If you audit a PL/SQL package, Oracle Database audits all functions and procedures within the package.

  • If you enable auditing for all executions, Oracle Database audits all triggers in the database, as well as all the functions and procedures within PL/SQL packages.

  • You cannot audit individual functions or procedures within a PL/SQL package.

  • When you audit the EXECUTE operation on a PL/SQL stored procedure or stored function, the database considers only its ability to find the procedure or function and authorize its execution when determining the success or failure of the operation for the purposes of auditing. Therefore, if you specify the WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL clause, then only invalid object errors, non-existent object errors, and authorization failures are audited; errors encountered during the execution of the procedure or function are not audited. If you specify the WHENEVER SUCCESSFUL clause, then all executions that are not blocked by invalid object errors, non-existent object errors, or authorization failures are audited, regardless of whether errors are encountered during execution.

Parent topic: Auditing Object Actions

26.3.7.12 Auditing of Oracle Virtual Private Database Predicates

The unified audit trail automatically captures the predicates that are used in Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD) policies.

You do not need to create a unified audit policy to capture the VPD predicate audit information.

This type of audit enables you to identify the predicate expression that was run as part of a DML operation and thereby help you to identify other actions that may have occurred as part of the DML operation. For example, if a malicious attack on your database is performed using a VPD predicate, then you can track the attack by using the unified audit trail. In addition to predicates from user-created VPD policies, the internal predicates from Oracle Label Security and Oracle Real Application Security policies are captured as well. For example, Oracle Label Security internally creates a VPD policy while applying an OLS policy to a table. Oracle Real Application Security generates a VPD policy while enabling an Oracle RAS policy.

The unified audit trail writes this predicate information to the RLS_INFO column of the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view. If you have fine-grained audit policies, then the RLS_INFO column of these views captures VPD predicate information as well.

The audit trail can capture the predicates and their corresponding policy names if multiple VPD policies are enforced on the object. The audit trail captures the policy schema and policy name to enable you to differentiate predicates that are generated from different policies. By default, this information is concatenated in the RLS_INFO column, but Oracle Database provides a function in the DBMS_AUDIT_UTIL PL/SQL package that enables you to reformat the results in an easy-to-read format.

The following example shows how you can audit the predicates of a VPD policy:

  1. Create the following VPD policy function:

    CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION auth_orders( 
  schema_var IN VARCHAR2,
  table_var  IN VARCHAR2
 )
 RETURN VARCHAR2
 IS
  return_val VARCHAR2 (400);
 BEGIN
  return_val := 'SALES_REP_ID = 159';
  RETURN return_val;
 END auth_orders;
/

  2. Create the following VPD policy:

    BEGIN
  DBMS_RLS.ADD_POLICY (
    object_schema    => 'oe',
    object_name      => 'orders',
    policy_name      => 'orders_policy',
    function_schema  => 'sec_admin',
    policy_function  => 'auth_orders',
    statement_types  => 'select, insert, update, delete'
   );
 END;
/

  3. Create and enable the following the unified audit policy:

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY oe_pol 
 ACTIONS SELECT ON OE.ORDERS;

AUDIT POLICY oe_pol;

  4. Connect as user OE and query the OE.ORDERS table. 

    CONNECT OE@pdb_name
Enter password: password

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ORDERS;

  5. Connect as a user who has been granted the AUDIT_ADMIN role, and then query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view. 

    CONNECT sec_admin@pdb_name
Enter password: password

SELECT RLS_INFO FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL;

    Output similar to the following should appear:

    ((POLICY_TYPE=[3]'VPD'),(POLICY_SCHEMA=[9]'SEC_ADMIN'),(POLICY_NAME=[13]'ORDERS_POLICY'),(PREDICATE=[16]'SALES_REP_ID=159'));

  6. To extract these details and add them to their own columns, run the appropriate function from the DBMS_AUDIT_UTIL PL/SQL package.

    For unified auditing, you must run the DBMS_AUDIT_UTIL.DECODE_RLS_INFO_ATRAIL_UNI function.

    For example:

    SELECT DBUSERNAME, ACTION_NAME, OBJECT_NAME, SQL_TEXT, 
  RLS_PREDICATE, RLS_POLICY_TYPE, RLS_POLICY_OWNER, RLS_POLICY_NAME 
  FROM TABLE (DBMS_AUDIT_UTIL.DECODE_RLS_INFO_ATRAIL_UNI 
  (CURSOR (SELECT * FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL)));

    The reformatted audit trail output appears similar to the following: 

    DBUSERNAME ACTION_NAME OBJECT_NAME SQL_TEXT
---------- ----------- ----------- ---------------------------
RLS_PREDICATE       RLS_POLICY_TYPE RLS_POLICY_OWNER RLS_POLICY_NAME
------------------ ---------------  ---------------- ---------------
OE         SELECT      ORDERS      SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ORDERS 
SALES_REP_ID = 159  VPD             SEC_ADMIN        ORDERS_POLICY
26.3.7.13 Audit Policies for Oracle Virtual Private Database Policy Functions

Auditing can affect dynamic VPD policies, static VPD policies, and context-sensitive VPD policies.

  • Dynamic policies: Oracle Database evaluates the policy function twice, once during SQL statement parsing and again during execution. As a result, two audit records are generated for each evaluation.

  • Static policies: Oracle Database evaluates the policy function once and then caches it in the SGA. As a result, only one audit record is generated.

  • Context-sensitive policies: Oracle Database executes the policy function once, during statement parsing. As a result, only one audit record is generated.

Parent topic: Auditing Object Actions

26.3.7.14 Unified Auditing with Editioned Objects

An audit policy created to audit an action on an editioned object will be applied to all its editions.

In addition, newly created objects in an edition will inherit unified audit policies from the existing edition.

You can find the editions in which audited objects appear by querying the OBJECT_NAME and OBJ_EDITION_NAME columns in the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view.

26.3.8 Auditing the READ ANY TABLE and SELECT ANY TABLE Privileges

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit the READ ANY TABLE and SELECT ANY TABLE privileges.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.8.1 About Auditing the READ ANY TABLE and SELECT ANY TABLE Privileges

You can create unified audit policies that capture the use of the READ ANY TABLE and SELECT ANY TABLE system privileges.

Based on the action that the user tried to perform and the privilege that was granted to the user, the SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED column of the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view will record either the READ ANY TABLE system privilege or the SELECT ANY TABLE system privilege. For example, suppose the user has been granted the SELECT ANY TABLE privilege and then performs a query on a table. The audit trail will record that the user used the SELECT ANY TABLE system privilege. If the user was granted READ ANY TABLE and performed the same query, then the READ ANY TABLE privilege is recorded.

26.3.8.2 Creating a Unified Audit Policy to Capture READ Object Privilege Operations

You can create unified audit policies that capture READ object privilege operations.

  • To create a unified audit policy to capture any READ object operations, create the policy for the SELECT statement, not for the READ statement.

For example: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY read_hr_employees
 ACTIONS SELECT ON HR.EMPLOYEES;

For any SELECT object operations, also create the policy on the SELECT statement, as with other object actions that you can audit.

26.3.8.3 How the Unified Audit Trail Captures READ ANY TABLE and SELECT ANY TABLE

The unified audit trail captures SELECT behavior based on whether a user has the READ ANY TABLE or the SELECT ANY TABLE privilege.

Table 26-3 describes how the unified audit trail captures these actions.

Table 26-3 Auditing Behavior for READ ANY TABLE and SELECT ANY TABLE

Statement User Issues Privilege Granted to User System Privilege Being Audited Expected UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL Behavior

SELECT

SELECT ANY TABLE

SELECT ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

SELECT ANY TABLE

SELECT

SELECT ANY TABLE

READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT

SELECT ANY TABLE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

SELECT ANY TABLE

SELECT

SELECT ANY TABLE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT

READ ANY TABLE

SELECT ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT

READ ANY TABLE

READ ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

READ ANY TABLE

SELECT

READ ANY TABLE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

READ ANY TABLE

SELECT

READ ANY TABLE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

SELECT ANY TABLE

No record, because READ ANY TABLE was used for access

SELECT

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

READ ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

READ ANY TABLE

SELECT

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

READ ANY TABLE

SELECT

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

SELECT ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

SELECT ANY TABLE

SELECT ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

SELECT ANY TABLE

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

SELECT ANY TABLE

READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

SELECT ANY TABLE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

SELECT ANY TABLE

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

SELECT ANY TABLE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

READ ANY TABLE

SELECT ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

READ ANY TABLE

READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

READ ANY TABLE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

READ ANY TABLE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

SELECT ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

SELECT ANY TABLE

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

READ ANY TABLE

No record, because READ ANY TABLE was used for access

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

Record inserted into SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED:

SELECT ANY TABLE

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

SELECT ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

Both SELECT ANY TABLE and READ ANY TABLE

No record

SELECT ... FOR UPDATE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE nor READ ANY TABLE

Neither SELECT ANY TABLE or READ ANY TABLE

No record

26.3.9 Auditing SQL Statements and Privileges in a Multitier Environment

You can create a unified audit policy to audit the activities of a client in a multitier environment.

In a multitier environment, Oracle Database preserves the identity of a client through all tiers. Thus, you can audit actions taken on behalf of the client by a middle-tier application, by using the BY user clause in the AUDIT statement for your policy. The audit applies to all user sessions, including proxy sessions.

The middle tier can also set the user client identity in a database session, enabling the auditing of end-user actions through the middle-tier application. The end-user client identity then shows up in the audit trail.

For example, suppose the proxy user apphr can connect as user jackson. The policy and enablement can be as follows: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY prox_pol ACTIONS LOGON;
AUDIT POLICY prox_pol BY jackson;

You can audit user activity in a multitier environment. Once audited, you can verify these activities by querying the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view. For example: 

SELECT DBUSERNAME, DB_PROXY_USERNAME, PROXY_SESSIONID, ACTION_NAME
FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL
WHERE DBPROXY_USERNAME IS NOT NULL;

Output similar to the following appears:


DBUSERNAME  DBPROXY_USERNAME  PROXY_SESSIONID  ACTION_NAME
----------  ----------------  ---------------  ----------- 
JACKSON     APPHR             1214623540       LOGON

Figure 26-1 illustrates how you can audit proxy users by querying the PROXY_SESSIONID, ACTION_NAME, and SESSION_ID columns of the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view. In this scenario, both the database user and proxy user accounts are known to the database. Session pooling can be used.

Figure 26-1 Auditing Proxy Users

Description of Figure 26-1 follows
Description of "Figure 26-1 Auditing Proxy Users"

Figure 26-2 illustrates how you can audit client identifier information across multiple database sessions by querying the CLIENT_ID column of the DBA_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view. In this scenario, the client identifier has been set to CLIENT_A. As with the proxy user-database user scenario described in Figure 26-1, session pooling can be used.

Figure 26-2 Auditing Client Identifier Information Across Sessions

Description of Figure 26-2 follows
Description of "Figure 26-2 Auditing Client Identifier Information Across Sessions"

Related Topics

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.10 Creating a Condition for a Unified Audit Policy

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to create conditions for a unified audit policy.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.10.1 About Conditions in Unified Audit Policies

You can create a unified audit policy that uses a SYS_CONTEXT namespace-attribute pair to specify a condition.

For example, this audit condition can apply to a specific user who may fulfil the audit condition, or a computer host where the audit condition is fulfilled.

If the audit condition is satisfied, then Oracle Database creates an audit record for the event. As part of the condition definition, you must specify whether the audited condition is evaluated per statement occurrence, session, or database instance.

Note:

Audit conditions can use both secure and insecure application contexts.

26.3.10.2 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy with a Condition

The WHEN clause in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement defines the condition in the audit policy.

  • Use the following syntax to create a unified audit policy that uses a condition: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name
 action_privilege_role_audit_option
[WHEN function_operation_value_list_1 [[AND | OR] function_operation_value_list_n]
 EVALUATE PER STATEMENT | SESSION | INSTANCE];

In this specification:

  • action_privilege_role_audit_option refers to audit options for system actions, object actions, privileges, and roles.

  • WHEN defines the condition. It has the following components:

    • function uses the following types of functions:

      Numeric functions, such as BITAND, CEIL, FLOOR, and LN POWER

      Character functions that return character values, such as CONCAT, LOWER, and UPPER

      Character functions that return numeric values, such as LENGTH or INSTR

      Environment and identifier functions, such as SYS_CONTEXT and UID. For SYS_CONTEXT, in most cases, you may want to use the USERENV namespace.

    • operation can be any the following operators: AND, OR, IN, NOT IN, =, <, >, <>

    • value_list refers to the condition for which you are testing.

    You can include additional conditions for each function_operation_value_list set, separated by AND or OR.

    When you write the WHEN clause, follow these guidelines:

    • Enclose the entire function operation value setting in single quotation marks. Within the clause, enclose each quoted component within two pairs of single quotation marks. Do not use double quotation marks.

    • Do not exceed 4000 bytes for the WHEN condition.

  • EVALUATE PER refers to the following options:

    • STATEMENT evaluates the condition for each relevant auditable statement that occurs.

    • SESSION evaluates the condition only once during the session, and then caches and re-uses the result during the remainder of the session. Oracle Database evaluates the condition the first time the policy is used, and then stores the result in UGA memory afterward.

    • INSTANCE evaluates the condition only once during the database instance lifetime. After Oracle Database evaluates the condition, it caches and re-uses the result for the remainder of the instance lifetime. As with the SESSION evaluation, the evaluation takes place the first time it is needed, and then the results are stored in UGA memory afterward.

For example: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY oe_orders_pol
 ACTIONS UPDATE ON OE.ORDERS
 WHEN 'SYS_CONTEXT(''USERENV'', ''IDENTIFICATION_TYPE'') = ''EXTERNAL'''
 EVALUATE PER STATEMENT;

Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.10.3 Example: Auditing Access to SQL*Plus

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit access to SQL*Plus.

Example 26-12 shows how to audit access to the database with SQL*Plus by users who have been directly granted the roles emp_admin and sales_admin.

Example 26-12 Auditing Access to SQL*Plus

CREATE AUDIT POLICY logon_pol
 ACTIONS LOGON
 WHEN 'INSTR(UPPER(SYS_CONTEXT(''USERENV'', ''CLIENT_PROGRAM_NAME'')), ''SQLPLUS'') > 0'
 EVALUATE PER SESSION;

AUDIT POLICY logon_pol BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES emp_admin, sales_admin;
26.3.10.4 Example: Auditing Actions Not in Specific Hosts

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit actions that are not in specific hosts.

Example 26-13 shows how to audit two actions (UPDATE and DELETE statements) on the OE.ORDERS table, but excludes the host names sales_24 and sales_12 from the audit. It performs the audit on a per session basis and writes audit records for failed attempts only.

Example 26-13 Auditing Actions Not in Specific Hosts

CREATE AUDIT POLICY oe_table_audit1
 ACTIONS UPDATE ON OE.ORDERS, DELETE ON OE.ORDERS 
 WHEN 'SYS_CONTEXT (''USERENV'', ''HOST'') NOT IN (''sales_24'',''sales_12'')' 
 EVALUATE PER SESSION;

AUDIT POLICY oe_table_audit1 WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL;
26.3.10.5 Example: Auditing Both a System-Wide and a Schema-Specific Action

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit both system-wide and schema-specific actions.

Example 26-14 shows a variation of Example 26-13 in which the UPDATE statement is audited system wide. The DELETE statement audit is still specific to the OE.ORDERS table.

Example 26-14 Auditing Both a System-Wide and a Schema-Specific Action

CREATE AUDIT POLICY oe_table_audit2
 ACTIONS UPDATE, DELETE ON OE.ORDERS
 WHEN 'SYS_CONTEXT (''USERENV'', ''HOST'') NOT IN (''sales_24'',''sales_12'')' 
 EVALUATE PER SESSION;

AUDIT POLICY oe_table_audit2;
26.3.10.6 Example: Auditing a Condition Per Statement Occurrence

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit conditions.

Example 26-15 shows how to audit a condition based on each occurrence of the DELETE statement on the OE.ORDERS table and exclude user jmartin from the audit.

Example 26-15 Auditing a Condition Per Statement Occurrence

CREATE AUDIT POLICY sales_clerk_pol
 ACTIONS DELETE ON OE.ORDERS
 WHEN 'SYS_CONTEXT(''USERENV'', ''CLIENT_IDENTIFIER'') = ''sales_clerk'''
 EVALUATE PER STATEMENT;

AUDIT POLICY sales_clerk_pol EXCEPT jmartin;
26.3.10.7 Example: Unified Audit Session ID of a Current Administrative User Session

The SYS_CONTEXT function can be used to find session IDs.

Example 26-16 shows how to find the unified audit session ID of current user session for an administrative user.

Example 26-16 Unified Audit Session ID of a Current Administrative User Session

CONNECT SYS AS SYSDBA
Enter password: password

SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV', 'UNIFIED_AUDIT_SESSIONID') FROM DUAL;

Output similar to the following appears:

SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','UNIFIED_AUDIT_SESSIONID')
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2318470183

Note that in mixed mode auditing, the UNIFIED_AUDIT_SESSIONID value in the USERENV namespace is different from the value that is recorded by the SESSIONID parameter. Hence, if you are using mixed mode auditing and want to find the correct audit session ID, you should use the USERENV UNIFIED_AUDIT_SESSIONID parameter, not the SESSIONID parameter. In pure unified auditing, the SESSIONID and UNIFIED_AUDIT_SESSIONID values are the same.

26.3.10.8 Example: Unified Audit Session ID of a Current Non-Administrative User Session

The SYS_CONTEXT function can find the session ID of a current non-administrative user session.

Example 26-17 shows how to find the unified audit session ID of a current user session for a non-administrative user.

Example 26-17 Unified Audit Session ID of a Current Non-Administrative User Session

CONNECT mblake@pdb_name
Enter password: password

SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV', 'UNIFIED_AUDIT_SESSIONID') FROM DUAL;

Output similar to the following appears:

SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','UNIFIED_AUDIT_SESSIONID')
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2776921346
26.3.10.9 How Audit Records from Conditions Appear in the Audit Trail

The audit record conditions from a unified audit policy do not appear in the audit trail.

If the condition evaluates to true and the record is written, then the record appears in the audit trail. You can check the audit trail by querying the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view.

26.3.11 Auditing Application Context Values

You can use the AUDIT statement to audit application context values.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.11.1 About Auditing Application Context Values

You can capture application context values in the unified audit trail.

This feature enables you to capture any application context values set by the database applications, while executing the audited statement.

If you plan to audit Oracle Label Security, then this feature captures session label activity for the database audit trail. The audit trail records all the values retrieved for the specified context-attribute value pairs.

The application context audit setting or the audit policy have session static semantics. In other words, if a new policy is enabled for a user, then the subsequent user sessions will see an effect of this command. After the session is established, then the policies and contexts settings are loaded and the subsequent AUDIT statements have no effect on that session.

Note that the application context audit policy applies only to the current PDB.

26.3.11.2 Configuring Application Context Audit Settings

The AUDIT statement with the CONTEXT keyword configures auditing for application context values.

You do not create an unified audit policy for this type of auditing.

  • Use the following syntax to configure auditing for application context values: 

    AUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE context_name1 ATTRIBUTES attribute1 [, attribute2] 
 [, CONTEXT NAMESPACE context_name2 ATTRIBUTES attribute1 [, attribute2]]
 [BY user_list];

In this specification:

  • context_name1: Optionally, you can include one additional CONTEXT name-attribute value pair.

  • user_list is an optional list of database user accounts. Separate multiple names with a comma. If you omit this setting, then Oracle Database configures the application context policy for all users. When each user logs in, a list of all pertinent application contexts and their attributes is cached for the user session.

For example: 

AUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE clientcontext3 ATTRIBUTES module, action, 
 CONTEXT NAMESPACE ols_session_labels ATTRIBUTES ols_pol1, ols_pol3
 BY appuser1, appuser2;

To find a list of currently configured application context audit settings, query the AUDIT_UNIFIED_CONTEXTS data dictionary view.

26.3.11.3 Disabling Application Context Audit Settings

The NOAUDIT statement disables application context audit settings.

  • To disable an application context audit setting, specify the namespace and attribute settings in the NOAUDIT statement. You can enter the attributes in any order (that is, they do not need to match the order used in the corresponding AUDIT CONTEXT statement.)

For example: 

NOAUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE client_context ATTRIBUTES module,
CONTEXT NAMESPACE ols_session_labels ATTRIBUTES ols_pol1, ols_pol3
BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES emp_admin;

To find the currently audited application contexts, query the AUDIT_UNIFIED_CONTEXTS data dictionary view.

26.3.11.4 Example: Auditing Application Context Values in a Default Database

The AUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE statement can audit application context values.

Example 26-18 shows how to audit the clientcontext application values for the module and action attributes, by the user appuser1.

Example 26-18 Auditing Application Context Values in a Default Database

AUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE clientcontext ATTRIBUTES module, action 
BY appuser1;
26.3.11.5 Example: Auditing Application Context Values from Oracle Label Security

The AUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE statement can audit application context values from Oracle Label Security.

Example 26-19 shows how to audit an application context for Oracle Label Security called ols_session_labels, for the attributes ols_pol1 and ols_pol2.

Example 26-19 Auditing Application Context Values from Oracle Label Security

AUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE ols_session_labels ATTRIBUTES ols_pol1, ols_pol2;
26.3.11.6 How Audited Application Contexts Appear in the Audit Trail

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES data dictionary view lists application context audit events.

The APPLICATION_CONTEXTS column of the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view shows application context audit data. The application contexts appear as a list of semi-colon separated values.

For example: 

SELECT APPLICATION_CONTEXTS FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
 WHERE UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES = 'app_audit_pol';

APPLICATION_CONTEXTS
----------------------------------------------------------
CLIENT_CONTEXT.APPROLE=MANAGER;E2E_CONTEXT.USERNAME=PSMITH

26.3.12 Auditing Oracle Database Real Application Security Events

You can use CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to audit Oracle Database Real Application Security events.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.12.1 About Auditing Oracle Database Real Application Security Events

You must have the AUDIT_ADMIN role to audit Oracle Database Real Application Security events.

To access the audit trail, you can query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view, whose Real Application Security-specific columns begin with XS_. If you want to find audit information about the internally generated VPD predicate that is created while an Oracle Real Application Security policy is being enabled, then you can query the RLS_INFO column.

Real Application Security-specific views are as follows:

  • DBA_XS_AUDIT_TRAIL provides detailed information about Real Application Security events that were audited.

  • DBA_XS_AUDIT_POLICY_OPTIONS describes the auditing options that were defined for Real Application Security unified audit policies.

  • DBA_XS_ENB_AUDIT_POLICIES lists users for whom Real Application Security unified audit polices are enabled.

26.3.12.2 Oracle Database Real Application Security Auditable Events

Oracle Database provides Real Application Security events that you can audit, such CREATE USER, UPDATE USER.

To find a list of auditable Real Application Security events that you can audit, you can query the COMPONENT and NAME columns of the AUDITABLE_SYSTEM_ACTIONS data dictionary view, as follows: 

SELECT NAME FROM AUDITABLE_SYSTEM_ACTIONS WHERE COMPONENT = 'XS';

NAME
-------------
CREATE USER
UPDATE USER
DELETE USER
...
26.3.12.3 Oracle Database Real Application Security User, Privilege, and Role Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Real Application Security events for users, privileges, and roles.

Table 26-4 describes these events.

Table 26-4 Oracle Database Real Application Security User, Privilege, and Role Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE USER

Creates an Oracle Database Real Application Security user account through the XS_PRINCIPAL.CREATE_USER procedure

UPDATE USER

Updates an Oracle Database Real Application Security user account through the following procedures:

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_EFFECTIVE_DATES

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_USER_DEFAULT_ROLES_ALL

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_USER_SCHEMA

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_GUID

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_USER_STATUS

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_DESCRIPTION

DELETE USER

Deletes an Oracle Database Real Application Security user account through the through the XS_PRINCIPAL.DELETE_PRINCIPAL procedure

AUDIT_GRANT_PRIVILEGE

Audits the GRANT_SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE privilege

AUDIT_REVOKE_PRIVILEGE

Audits the REVOKE_SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE privilege

CREATE ROLE

Creates an Oracle Database Real Application Security role through the XS_PRINCIPAL.CREATE_ROLE procedure

UPDATE ROLE

Updates an Oracle Database Real Application Security role through the following procedures:

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_DYNAMIC_ROLE_SCOPE

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_DYNAMIC_ROLE_DURATION

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_EFFECTIVE_DATES

  • XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_ROLE_DEFAULT

DELETE ROLE

Deletes an Oracle Database Real Application Security role through the XS_PRINCIPAL.DELETE_ROLE procedure

GRANT ROLE

Grants Oracle Database Real Application Security roles through the XS_PRINCIPAL.GRANT_ROLES procedure

REVOKE ROLE

Revokes Oracle Database Real Application Security roles through the XS_PRINCIPAL.REVOKE_ROLES procedure and revokes all granted roles through the XS_PRINCIPAL.REVOKE_ALL_GRANTED_ROLES procedure

ADD PROXY

Adds Oracle Database Real Application Security proxy user account through the XS_PRINCIPAL.ADD_PROXY_USER procedure, and adds proxies to database users through the XS_PRINCIPAL.ADD_PROXY_TO_SCHEMA procedure

REMOVE PROXY

Removes an Oracle Database Real Application Security proxy user account through the XS_PRINCIPAL.REMOVE_PROXY_USER, XS_PRINCIPAL.REMOVE_ALL_PROXY_USERS, and XS_PRINCIPAL.REMOVE_PROXY_FROM_SCHEMA PROCEDURES

SET USER PASSWORD

Sets the Oracle Database Real Application Security user account password through the XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_PASSWORD procedure

SET USER VERIFIER

Sets the Oracle Database Real Application Security proxy user account verifier through the XS_PRINCIPAL.SET_VERIFIER procedure

26.3.12.4 Oracle Database Real Application Security Security Class and ACL Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Real Application Security security class and ACL audit events.

Table 26-5 describes these events.

Table 26-5 Oracle Database Real Application Security Security Class and ACL Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE SECURITY CLASS

Creates a security class through the XS_SECURITY_CLASS.CREATE_SECURITY_CLASS procedure

UPDATE SECURITY CLASS

Creates a security class through the following procedures:

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.SET_DEFAULT_ACL

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.ADD_PARENTS

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.REMOVE_ALL_PARENTS

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.REMOVE_PARENTS

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.ADD_PRIVILEGES

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.REMOVE_ALL_PRIVILEGES

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.ADD_IMPLIED_PRIVILEGES

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.REMOVE_IMPLIED_PRIVILEGES

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.REMOVE_ALL_IMPLIED_PRIVILEGES

  • XS_SECURITY_CLASS.SET_DESCRIPTION

DELETE SECURITY CLASS

Deletes a security class through the XS_SECURITY_CLASS.DELETE_SECURITY_CLASS procedure

CREATE ACL

Creates an Access Control List (ACL) through the XS_ACL.CREATE_ACL procedure

UPDATE ACL

Updates an ACL through the following procedures:

  • XS_ACL.APPEND_ACES

  • XS_ACL.REMOVE_ALL_ACES

  • XS_ACL.SET_SECURITY_CLASS

  • XS_ACL.SET_PARENT_ACL

  • XS_ACL.ADD_ACL_PARAMETER

  • XS_ACL.REMOVE_ALL_ACL_PARAMETERS

  • XS_ACL.REMOVE_ACL_PARAMETER

  • XS_ACL.SET_DESCRIPTION

DELETE ACL

Deletes an ACL through the XS_ACL.DELETE_ACL procedure

CREATE DATA SECURITY-

Creates a data security policy through the XS_DATA_SECURITY.CREATE_DATA_SECURITY procedure

UPDATE DATA SECURITY

Updates a data security policy through the following procedures:

  • XS_DATA_SECURITY.CREATE_ACL_PARAMETER

  • XS_DATA_SECURITY.DELETE_ACL_PARAMETER

  • XS_DATA_SECURITY.SET_DESCRIPTION

DELETE DATA SECURITY

Deletes a data security policy through the XS_DATA_SECURITY.DELETE_DATA_SECURITY procedure

ENABLE DATA SECURITY

Enables extensible data security for a database table or view through the XS_DATA_SECURITY.ENABLE_OBJECT_POLICY procedure

DISABLE DATA SECURITY

Disables extensible data security for a database table or view through the XS_DATA_SECURITY.DISABLE_XDS procedure

26.3.12.5 Oracle Database Real Application Security Session Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Real Application Security session audit events.

Table 26-4 describes these events.

Table 26-6 Oracle Database Real Application Security Session Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE SESSION

Creates a session through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.CREATE_SESSION procedure

DESTROY SESSION

Destroys a session through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.DESTROY_SESSION procedure

CREATE SESSION NAMESPACE

Creates a namespace through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.CREATE_NAMESPACE procedure

DELETE SESSION NAMESPACE

Deletes a namespace through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.DELETE_NAMESPACE procedure

CREATE NAMESPACE ATTRIBUTE

Creates a namespace attribute through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.CREATE_ATTRIBUTE procedure

SET NAMESPACE ATTRIBUTE

Sets a namespace attribute through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.SET_ATTRIBUTE procedure

GET NAMESPACE ATTRIBUTE

Gets a namespace attribute through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.GET_ATTRIBUTE procedure

DELETE NAMESPACE ATTRIBUTE

Deletes a namespace attribute through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.DELETE_ATTRIBUTE procedure

CREATE NAMESPACE TEMPLATE

Creates a namespace attribute through the XS_NS_TEMPLATE.CREATE_NS_TEMPLATE procedure

UPDATE NAMESPACE TEMPLATE

Updates a namespace attribute through the following procedures:

  • XS_NS_TEMPLATE.SET_HANDLER

  • XS_NS_TEMPLATE.ADD_ATTRIBUTES

  • XS_NS_TEMPLATE.REMOVE_ALL_ATTRIBUTES

  • XS_NS_TEMPLATE.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTES

  • XS_NS_TEMPLATE.SET_DESCRIPTION

DELETE NAMESPACE TEMPLATE

Deletes a namespace through the XS_NS_TEMPLATE.DELETE_NS_TEMPLATE procedure

ADD GLOBAL CALLBACK

Adds a global callback through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.ADD_GLOBAL_CALLBACK procedure

DELETE GLOBAL CALLBACK

Deletes a global callback through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.DELETE_GLOBAL_CALLBACK procedure

ENABLE GLOBAL CALLBACK

Enables a global callback through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.ENABLE_GLOBAL_CALLBACK procedure

SET COOKIE

Sets a session cookie through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.SET_SESSION_COOKIE procedure

SET INACTIVE TIMEOUT

Sets the time-out time for inactive sessions through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.SET_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT procedure

SWITCH USER

Sets the security context of the current lightweight user session to a newly initialized security context for a specified user through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.SWITCH_USER procedure

ASSIGN USER

Assigns or removes one or more dynamic roles for the specified user through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.ASSIGN_USER procedure

ENABLE ROLE

Enable a role for a lightweight user session through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.ENABLE_ROLE procedure

DISABLE ROLE

Disables a role for a lightweight user session through the DBMS_XS_SESSIONS.DISABLE_ROLE procedure

26.3.12.6 Oracle Database Real Application Security ALL Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Real Application Security ALL events.

Table 26-7 describes these events.

Table 26-7 Oracle Database Real Application Security ALL Events

Audit Event Description

ALL

Captures all Real Application Security actions
26.3.12.7 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy for Oracle Database Real Application Security

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can create a unified audit policy for Oracle Real Application Security.

  • Use the following syntax to create a unified audit policy for Oracle Database Real Application Security: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name 
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=XS component_action1 [, action2];

For example: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_ras_pol
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=XS SWITCH USER, DISABLE ROLE;

You can build more complex policies, such as those that include conditions. Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.12.8 Example: Auditing Real Application Security User Account Modifications

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit Real Application Security user account modifications.

Example 26-20 shows how to audit user bhurst's attempts to switch users and disable roles.

Example 26-20 Auditing Real Application Security User Account Modifications

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ras_users_pol
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=XS SWITCH USER, DISABLE ROLE;

AUDIT POLICY ras_users_pol BY bhurst;
26.3.12.9 Example: Using a Condition in a Real Application Security Unified Audit Policy

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can set a condition for a Real Application Security unified audit policy.

Example 26-21 shows how to create Real Application Security unified audit policy that applies the audit only to actions from the nemosity computer host.

Example 26-21 Using a Condition in a Real Application Security Unified Audit Policy

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ras_acl_pol
 ACTIONS DELETE ON OE.CUSTOMERS
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=XS CREATE ACL, UPDATE ACL, DELETE ACL
 WHEN 'SYS_CONTEXT(''USERENV'', ''HOST'') = ''nemosity'''
 EVALUATE PER INSTANCE;

AUDIT POLICY ras_acl_pol BY pfitch;
26.3.12.10 How Oracle Database Real Application Security Events Appear in the Audit Trail

The DBA_XS_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists Oracle Real Application Security audit events.

The following example queries the Real Application Security-specific view, DBA_XS_AUDIT_TRAIL: 

SELECT XS_USER_NAME FROM DBA_XS_AUDIT_TRAIL 
WHERE XS_ENABLED_ROLE = 'CLERK'; 

XS_USER_NAME
-------------
USER2

26.3.13 Auditing Oracle Recovery Manager Events

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to audit Oracle Recovery Manager events.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.13.1 About Auditing Oracle Recovery Manager Events

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view automatically stores Oracle Recovery Manager audit events in the RMAN_column.

Unlike other Oracle Database components, you do not create a unified audit policy for Oracle Recovery Manager events.

However, you must have the AUDIT_ADMIN or AUDIT_VIEWER role in order to query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view to see these events. If you have the SYSBACKUP or the SYSDBA administrative privilege, then you can find additional information about Recovery Manager jobs by querying views such as V$RMAN_STATUS or V$RMAN_BACKUP_JOB_DETAILS.

26.3.13.2 Oracle Recovery Manager Unified Audit Trail Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Recovery Manager events.

Table 26-8 describes these events.

Table 26-8 Oracle Recovery Manager Columns in UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL View

Recovery Manager Column Description

RMAN_SESSION_RECID

Recovery Manager session identifier. Together with the RMAN_SESSION_STAMP column, this column uniquely identifies the Recovery Manager job. The Recovery Manager session ID is a a RECID value in the control file that identifies the Recovery Manager job. (Note that the Recovery Manager session ID is not the same as a user session ID.)

RMAN_SESSION_STAMP

Timestamp for the session. Together with the RMAN_SESSION_RECID column, this column identifies Recovery Manager jobs.

RMAN_OPERATION

The Recovery Manager operation executed by the job. One row is added for each distinct operation within a Recovery Manager session. For example, a backup job contains BACKUP as the RMAN_OPERATION value.

RMAN_OBJECT_TYPE

Type of objects involved in a Recovery Manager session. It contains one of the following values. If the Recovery Manager session does not satisfy more than one of them, then preference is given in the following order, from top to bottom of the list.

  1. DB FULL (Database Full) refers to a full backup of the database

  2. RECVR AREA refers to the Fast Recovery area

  3. DB INCR (Database Incremental) refers to incremental backups of the database

  4. DATAFILE FULL refers to a full backup of the data files

  5. DATAFILE INCR refers to incremental backups of the data files

  6. ARCHIVELOG refers to archived redo log files

  7. CONTROLFILE refers to control files

  8. SPFILE refers to the server parameter file

  9. BACKUPSET refers to backup files

RMAN_DEVICE_TYPE

Device associated with a Recovery Manager session. This column can be DISK, SBT (system backup tape), or * (asterisk). An asterisk indicates more than one device. In most cases, the value will be DISK and SBT.

26.3.13.3 How Oracle Recovery Manager Audited Events Appear in the Audit Trail

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists Oracle Recovery Manager audit events.

Table 26-8 lists the columns in the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view that you can query to find Oracle Recovery Manager-specific audit data.

For example: 

SELECT RMAN_OPERATION FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
WHERE RMAN_OBJECT_TYPE = 'DB FULL';

RMAN_OPERATION 
---------------
BACKUP

26.3.14 Auditing Oracle Database Vault Events

In an Oracle Database Vault environment, the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit Database Vault activities.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.14.1 About Auditing Oracle Database Vault Events

As with all unified auditing, you must have the AUDIT_ADMIN role before you can audit Oracle Database Vault events.

To create Oracle Database Vault unified audit policies, you must set the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement's COMPONENT clause to DV, and then specify an action, such as Rule Set Failure, and an object, such as the name of a rule set.

To access the audit trail, you can query the following views:

  • UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL

  • AUDSYS.DV$CONFIGURATION_AUDIT

  • AUDSYS.DV$ENFORCEMENT_AUDIT

In the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view, the Oracle Database Vault-specific columns begin with DV_. You must have the AUDIT_VIEWER role before you can query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view.

In addition to these views, the Database Vault reports capture the results of Database Vault-specific unified audit policies.

26.3.14.2 Who Is Audited in Oracle Database Vault?

Audited Oracle Database Vault users include administrators and users whose activities affect Database Vault enforcement policies.

These users are as follows:

  • Database Vault administrators. All configuration changes that are made to Oracle Database Vault are mandatorily audited. The auditing captures activities such as creating, modifying, or deleting realms, factors, command rules, rule sets, rules, and so on. The AUDSYS.DV$CONFIGURATION_AUDIT data dictionary view captures configuration changes made by Database Vault administrators.

  • Users whose activities affect Oracle Database Vault enforcement policies. The AUDSYS.DV$ENFORCEMENT_AUDIT data dictionary view captures enforcement-related audits

26.3.14.3 About Oracle Database Vault Unified Audit Trail Events

The audit trail in an Oracle Database Vault environment captures all configuration changes or attempts at changes to Database Vault policies.

It also captures violations by users to existing Database Vault policies.

You can audit the following kinds of Oracle Database Vault events:

  • All configuration changes or attempts at changes to Oracle Database Vault policies. It captures both Database Vault administrator changes and attempts made by unauthorized users.

  • Violations by users to existing Database Vault policies. For example, if you create a policy to prevent users from accessing a specific schema table during non-work hours, the audit trail will capture this activity.

26.3.14.4 Oracle Database Vault Realm Audit Events

The unified audit trail captures Oracle Database Vault realm events.

Table 26-9 describes these events.

Table 26-9 Oracle Database Vault Realm Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE_REALM

Creates a realm through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_REALM procedure

UPDATE_REALM

Updates a realm through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_REALM procedure

RENAME_REALM

Renames a realm through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.RENAME_REALM procedure

DELETE_REALM

Deletes a realm through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_REALM procedure

DELETE_REALM_CASCADE

Deletes a realm and its related Database Vault configuration information through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_REALM_CASCADE procedure

ADD_AUTH_TO_REALM

Adds an authorization to the realm through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.ADD_AUTH_TO_REALM procedure

DELETE_AUTH_FROM_REALM

Removes an authorization from the realm through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_AUTH_FROM_REALM procedure

UPDATE_REALM_AUTH

Updates a realm authorization through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_REALM_AUTHORIZATION procedure

ADD_OBJECT_TO_REALM

Adds an object to a realm authorization through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.ADD_AUTH_TO_REALM procedure

DELETE_OBJECT_FROM_REALM

Removes an object from a realm authorization through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_OBJECT_FROM_REALM procedure

26.3.14.5 Oracle Database Vault Rule Set and Rule Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Vault rule set and rule audit events.

Table 26-10 describes these events.

Table 26-10 Oracle Database Vault Rule Set and Rule Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE_RULE_SET

Creates a rule set through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_RULE_SET procedure

UPDATE_RULE_SET

Updates a rule set through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_RULE_SET procedure

RENAME_RULE_SET

Renames a rule set through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.RENAME_RULE_SET procedure

DELETE_RULE_SET

Deletes a rule set through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_RULE_SET procedure

ADD_RULE_TO_RULE_SET

Adds a rule to an existing rule set through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.ADD_RULE_TO_RULE_SET procedure

DELETE_RULE_FROM_RULE_SET

Removes a rule from an existing rule set through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_RULE_FROM_RULE_SET procedure

CREATE_RULE

Creates a rule through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_RULE procedure

UPDATE_RULE

Updates a rule through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_RULE procedure

RENAME_RULE

Renames a rule through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.RENAME_RULE procedure

DELETE_RULE

Deletes a rule through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_RULE procedure

SYNC_RULES

Synchronizes the rules in Oracle Database Vault and Advanced Queuing Rules engine through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.SYNC_RULES procedure

26.3.14.6 Oracle Database Vault Command Rule Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Vault command rule audit events.

Table 26-11 describes these events.

Table 26-11 Oracle Database Vault Command Rule Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE_COMMAND_RULE

Creates a command rule through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_COMMAND_RULE procedure

DELETE_COMMAND_RULE

Deletes a command rule through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_COMMAND_RULE procedure

UPDATE_COMMAND_RULE

Updates a command rule through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_COMMAND_RULE procedure

26.3.14.7 Oracle Database Vault Factor Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Vault factor events.

Table 26-12 describes these events.

Table 26-12 Oracle Database Vault Factor Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE_FACTOR_TYPE

Creates a factor type through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_FACTOR_TYPE procedure

DELETE_FACTOR_TYPE

Deletes a factor type through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_FACTOR_TYPE procedure

UPDATE_FACTOR_TYPE

Updates a factor type through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_FACTOR_TYPE procedure

RENAME_FACTOR_TYPE

Renames a factor type through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.RENAME_FACTOR_TYPE procedure

CREATE_FACTOR

Creates a factor through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_FACTOR procedure

UPDATE_FACTOR

Updates a factor through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_FACTOR procedure

DELETE_FACTOR

Deletes a factor through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_FACTOR procedure

RENAME_FACTOR

Renames a factor through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.RENAME_FACTOR procedure

ADD_FACTOR_LINK

Specifies a parent-child relationship between two factors through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.ADD_FACTOR_LINK procedure

DELETE_FACTOR_LINK

Removes the parent-child relationship between two factors through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_FACTOR_LINK procedure

ADD_POLICY_FACTOR

Specifies that the label for a factor contributes to the Oracle Label Security label for a policy, through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.ADD_POLICY_FACTOR procedure

DELETE_POLICY_FACTOR

Removes factor label from being associated with an Oracle Label Security label for a policy, through the DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_POLICY_FACTOR procedure

CREATE_IDENTITY

Creates a factor identity through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_IDENTITY procedure

UPDATE_IDENTITY

Updates a factor identity through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_IDENTITY procedure

CHANGE_IDENTITY_FACTOR

Associates an identity with a different factor through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CHANGE_IDENTITY_FACTOR procedure

CHANGE_IDENTITY_VALUE

Updates the value of an identity through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CHANGE_IDENTITY_VALUE procedure

DELETE_IDENTITY

Deletes an existing factor identity through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_IDENTITY procedure

CREATE_IDENTITY_MAP

Creates a factor identity map through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_IDENTITY_MAP procedure

DELETE_IDENTITY_MAP

Deletes a factor identity map through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_IDENTITY_MAP procedure

CREATE_DOMAIN_IDENTITY

Adds an Oracle Database Real Application Clusters database node to the domain factor identities and labels it according to the Oracle Label Security policy, through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_DOMAIN_IDENTITY procedure

DROP_DOMAIN_IDENTITY

Drops an Oracle RAC node from the domain factor identities through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DROP_DOMAIN_IDENTITY procedure

26.3.14.8 Oracle Database Vault Secure Application Role Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Vault secure application role audit events.

Table 26-13 describes these events.

Table 26-13 Oracle Database Vault Secure Application Role Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE_ROLE

Creates an Oracle Database Vault secure application role through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_ROLE procedure

DELETE_ROLE

Deletes an Oracle Database Vault secure application role through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_ROLE procedure

UPDATE_ROLE

Updates an Oracle Database Vault secure application role through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_ROLE procedure

RENAME_ROLE

Renames an Oracle Database Vault secure application role through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.RENAME_ROLE procedure

26.3.14.9 Oracle Database Vault Oracle Label Security Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Vault Oracle Label Security audit events.

Table 26-14 describes these events.

Table 26-14 Oracle Database Vault Oracle Label Security Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE_POLICY_LABEL

Creates an Oracle Label Security policy label through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_POLICY_LABEL procedure

DELETE_POLICY_LABEL

Deletes an Oracle Label Security policy label through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_POLICY_LABEL procedure

CREATE_MAC_POLICY

Specifies the algorithm that is used to merge labels when computing the label for a factor, or the Oracle Label Security Session label, through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.CREATE_MAC_POLICY procedure

UPDATE_MAC_POLICY

Changes the Oracle Label Security merge label algorithm through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UPDATE_MAC_POLICY procedure

DELETE_MAC_POLICY_CASCADE

Deletes all Oracle Database Vault objects related to an Oracle Label Security policy, through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.DELETE_MAC_POLICY_CASCADE procedure

26.3.14.10 Oracle Database Vault Oracle Data Pump Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Vault Oracle Data Pump audit events.

Table 26-15 describes these events.

Table 26-15 Oracle Database Vault Oracle Data Pump Audit Events

Audit Event Description

AUTHORIZE_DATAPUMP_USER

Authorizes an Oracle Data Pump user through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.AUTHORIZE_DATAPUMP_USER procedure

UNAUTHORIZE_DATAPUMP_USER

Removes from authorization an Oracle Data Pump user through the DVSYS.DBMS_MACADM.UNAUTHORIZE_DATAPUMP_USER procedure

26.3.14.11 Oracle Database Vault Enable and Disable Audit Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Database Vault enable and disable audit events.

Table 26-16 describes these events.

Table 26-16 Oracle Database Vault Enable and Disable Audit Events

Event Description

ENABLE_EVENT

DBMS_MACADM.ENABLE_EVENT

DISABLE_EVENT

DBMS_MACADM.DISABLE_EVENT
26.3.14.12 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy for Oracle Database Vault

The ACTIONS and ACTIONS COMPONENT clauses in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can create unified audit policies for Oracle Database Vault events.

  • Use the following syntax to create an Oracle Database Vault unified audit policy:

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name 
 ACTIONS COMPONENT= DV DV_action ON DV_object [,DV_action2 ON DV_object2]

In this specification:

  • DV_action is one of the following:

    • Realm-related actions:

      Realm Violation audits realm violations (for example, when an unauthorized user attempts to access a realm-protected object).

      Realm Success audits when a realm-protected object is successfully accessed by an authorized user.

      Realm Access audits both realm violation and realm success cases, that is, audits whenever the realm access attempt has been made, whether the access succeeded or failed.

    • Rule set-related actions: Rule Set Failure, Rule Set Success, Rule Set Eval

    • Factor-related actions: Factor Error, Factor Null, Factor Validate Error, Factor Validate False, Factor Trust Level Null, Factor Trust Level Neg, Factor All

  • DV_objects is one of the following:

    • Realm_Name

    • Rule_Set_Name

    • Factor_Name

If the object was created in lower or mixed case, then you must enclose DV_objects in double quotation marks. If you had created the object in all capital letters, then you can omit the quotation marks.

For example, to audit realm violations on the Database Vault Account Management realm:

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_dv
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DV Realm Violation ON "Database Vault Account Management";

Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.14.13 Example: Auditing an Oracle Database Vault Realm

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit Oracle Database Vault realms.

Example 26-22 shows how to audit a realm violation on the HR schema.

Example 26-22 Auditing a Realm Violation

CREATE AUDIT POLICY dv_realm_hr 
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DV Realm Violation ON "HR Schema Realm";

AUDIT POLICY dv_realm_hr;
26.3.14.14 Example: Auditing an Oracle Database Vault Rule Set

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit Oracle Database Vault rule sets.

Example: Auditing an Oracle Database Vault Rule Set shows how to audit the Can Maintain Accounts/Profile rule set.

Example 26-23 Auditing a Rule Set

CREATE AUDIT POLICY dv_rule_set_accts 
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DV RULE SET FAILURE ON "Can Maintain Accounts/Profile";

AUDIT POLICY dv_rule_set_accts;
26.3.14.15 Example: Auditing Two Oracle Database Vault Events

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit multiple Oracle Database Vault events.

Example 26-24 shows how to audit a realm violation and a rule set failure.

Example 26-24 Auditing Two Oracle Database Vault Events

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_dv
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DV REALM VIOLATION ON "Oracle Enterprise Manager", Rule Set
 Failure ON "Allow Sessions";

AUDIT POLICY audit_dv;
26.3.14.16 Example: Auditing Oracle Database Vault Factors

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit Oracle Database Vault factors.

Example 26-25 shows how to audit two types of errors for one factor.

Example 26-25 Auditing Oracle Database Vault Factor Settings

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_dv_factor
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DV FACTOR ERROR ON "Database_Domain", Factor Validate Error ON "Client_IP";

AUDIT POLICY audit_dv_factor;
26.3.14.17 How Oracle Database Vault Audited Events Appear in the Audit Trail

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists Oracle Database Vault audited events.

The DV_* columns of the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view show Oracle Database Vault-specific audit data.

For example: 

SELECT DBUSERNAME, SQL_TEXT, UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES, DV_ACTION_NAME, DV_ACTION_OBJECT_NAME, DV_RULE_SET_NAME 
FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
WHERE AUDIT_TYPE = 'DATABASE VAULT' 
ORDER BY EVENT_TIMESTAMP;

DBUSERNAME SQL_TEXT                   UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES DV_ACTION_NAME        DV_ACTION_OBJECT_NAME DV_RULE_SET_NAME
---------- –------------------------- –---------------------- –-------------------- –-------------------- –-----------------
PFITCH     SELECT * FROM HR.EMPLOYEES DV_AUDIT_POLICY         Command Failure Audit SELECT                HR_data_protection

26.3.15 Auditing Oracle Label Security Events

In an Oracle Label Security environment, the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit Oracle Label Security activities.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.15.1 About Auditing Oracle Label Security Events

As with all unified auditing, you must have the AUDIT_ADMIN role before you can audit Oracle Label Security (OLS) events.

To create Oracle Label Security unified audit policies, you must set the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement COMPONENT clause to OLS.

To audit user session label information, you use the AUDIT statement to audit application context values.

To access the audit trail, you can query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view. This view contains Oracle Label Security-specific columns whose names begin with OLS_. If you want to find audit information about the internally generated VPD predicate that is created when you apply an Oracle Label Security policy to a table, then you can query the RLS_INFO column.

26.3.15.2 Oracle Label Security Unified Audit Trail Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Label Security audit events.

To find a list of auditable Oracle Label Security events that you can audit, you can query the COMPONENT and NAME columns of the AUDITABLE_SYSTEM_ACTIONS data dictionary view.

For example:

SELECT NAME FROM AUDITABLE_SYSTEM_ACTIONS WHERE COMPONENT = 'Label Security';

NAME
-------------
CREATE POLICY
ALTER POLICY
DROP POLICY
...

Table 26-17 describes the Oracle Label Security audit events.

Table 26-17 Oracle Label Security Audit Events

Audit Event Description

CREATE POLICY

Creates an Oracle Label Security policy through the SA_SYSDBA.CREATE_POLICY procedure

ALTER POLICY

Alters an Oracle Label Security policy through the SA_SYSDBA.ALTER_POLICY procedure

DROP POLICY

Drops an Oracle Label Security policy through the SA_SYSDBA.DROP_POLICY procedure

APPLY POLICY

Applies a table policy through the SA_POLICY_ADMIN.APPLY_TABLE_POLICY procedure or a schema policy through the SA_POLICY_ADMIN.APPLY_SCHEMA_POLICY procedure

REMOVE POLICY

Removes a table policy through the SA_POLICY_ADMIN.REMOVE_TABLE_POLICY procedure or a schema policy through the SA_POLICY_ADMIN.REMOVE_SCHEMA_POLICY procedure

SET AUTHORIZATION

Covers all Oracle Label Security authorizations, including Oracle Label Security privileges and user labels to either users or trusted stored procedures. The PL/SQL procedures that correspond to the SET AUTHORIZATION event are SA_USER_ADMIN.SET_USER_LABELS, SA_USER_ADMIN.SET_USER_PRIVS, and SA_USER_ADMIN.SET_PROG_PRIVS.

PRIVILEGED ACTION

Covers any action that requires the user of an Oracle Label Security privilege. These actions are logons, SA_SESSION.SET_ACCESS_PROFILE executions, and the invocation of trusted stored procedures.

ENABLE POLICY

Enables an Oracle Label Security policy through the following procedures:

  • SA_SYSDBA.ENABLE_POLICY: Enforces access control on the tables and schemas protected by the policy

  • SA_POLICY_ADMIN.ENABLE_TABLE_POLICY: Enables an Oracle Label Security policy for a specified table

  • SA_POLICY_ADMIN.ENABLE_SCHEMA_POLICY: Enables an Oracle Label Security policy for all the tables in a specified schema

DISABLE POLICY

Disables an Oracle Label Security policy through the following procedures:

  • SA_SYSDBA.DISABLE_POLICY: Disables the enforcement of an Oracle Label Security policy

  • SA_POLICY_ADMIN.DISABLE_TABLE_POLICY: Disables the enforcement an Oracle Label Security policy for a specified table

  • SA_POLICY_ADMIN.DISABLE_SCHEMA_POLICY: Disables the enforcement of an Oracle Label Security policy for all the tables in a specified schema

SUBSCRIBE OID

Subscribes to an Oracle Internet Directory-enabled Oracle Label Security policy through the SA_POLICY_ADMIN.POLICY_SUBSCRIBE procedure

UNSUBSCRIBE OID

Unsubscribes to an Oracle Internet Directory-enabled Oracle Label Security policy through the SA_POLICY_ADMIN.POLICY_UNSUBSCRIBE procedure

CREATE DATA LABEL

Creates an Oracle Label Security data label through the SA_LABEL_ADMIN.CREATE_LABEL procedure. CREATE DATA LABEL also corresponds to the LBACSYS.TO_DATA_LABEL function.

ALTER DATA LABEL

Alters an Oracle Label Security data label through the SA_LABEL_ADMIN.ALTER_LABEL procedure

DROP DATA LABEL

Drops an Oracle Label Security data label through the SA_LABEL_ADMIN.DROP_LABEL procedure

CREATE LABEL COMPONENT

Creates an Oracle Label Security component through the following procedures:

  • Levels: SA_COMPONENTS.CREATE_LEVEL

  • Compartments: SA_COMPONENTS.CREATE_COMPARTMENT

  • Groups: SA_COMPONENTS.CREATE_GROUP

ALTER LABEL COMPONENTS

Alters an Oracle Label Security component through the following procedures:

  • Levels: SA_COMPONENTS.ALTER_LEVEL

  • Compartments: SA_COMPONENTS.ALTER_COMPARTMENT

  • Groups: SA_COMPONENTS.ALTER_GROUP and SA_COMPONENTS.ALTER_GROUP_PARENT

DROP LABEL COMPONENTS

Drops an Oracle Label Security component through the following procedures:

  • Levels: SA_COMPONENTS.DROP_LEVEL

  • Compartments: SA_COMPONENTS.DROP_COMPARTMENT

  • Groups: SA_COMPONENTS.DROP_GROUP

ALL

Enables auditing of all Oracle Label Security actions
26.3.15.3 Oracle Label Security Auditable User Session Labels

The ORA_OLS_SESSION_LABELS application context can capture user session label usage for each Oracle Database event.

The attributes used by this application context refer to Oracle Label Security policies. .

The syntax is the same as the syntax used for application context auditing. For example: 

AUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE ORA_SESSION_LABELS ATTRIBUTES policy1, policy2;

Because the recording of session labels is not user-session specific, the BY user_list clause is not required for auditing Oracle Label Security application contexts.

To disable the auditing of user session label information, you use the NOAUDIT statement. For example, to stop auditing for policies policy1 and policy2, enter the following statement: 

NOAUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE ORA_SESSION_LABELS ATTRIBUTES policy1, policy2;
26.3.15.4 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy for Oracle Label Security

The ACTIONS and ACTIONS COMPONENT clauses in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can be used to create Oracle Label Security event audit policies.

  • Use the following syntax to create an Oracle Label Security unified audit policy: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name 
 ACTIONS action1 [,action2 ]
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=OLS component_action1 [, action2];

For example: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_ols
 ACTIONS SELECT ON OE.ORDERS
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=OLS ALL;

You can build more complex policies, such as those that include conditions. Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.15.5 Example: Auditing Oracle Label Security Session Label Attributes

The AUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE statement can audit Oracle Label Security session label attributes.

Example 26-26 shows how to audit ORA_OLS_SESSION_LABELS application context attributes for the Oracle Label Security policies usr_pol1 and usr_pol2.

Example 26-26 Auditing Oracle Label Security Session Label Attributes

AUDIT CONTEXT NAMESPACE ORA_SESSION_LABELS ATTRIBUTES usr_pol1, usr_pol2;
26.3.15.6 Example: Excluding a User from an Oracle Label Security Policy

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can exclude users from policies.

Example 26-27 shows how to create a unified audit policy that excludes actions from user ols_mgr.

Example 26-27 Excluding a User from an Oracle Label Security Policy

CREATE AUDIT POLICY auth_ols_audit_pol
 ACTIONS SELECT ON HR.EMPLOYEES
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=OLS DROP POLICY, DISABLE POLICY;

AUDIT POLICY auth_ols_audit_pol EXCEPT ols_mgr;
26.3.15.7 Example: Auditing Oracle Label Security Policy Actions

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit Oracle Label Security policy actions.

Example 26-28 shows how to audit the DROP POLICY, DISABLE POLICY, UNSUBSCRIBE OID events, and UPDATE and DELETE statements on the HR.EMPLOYEES table. Then this policy is applied to the HR and LBACSYS users, and audit records are written to the unified audit trail only when the audited actions are successful.

Example 26-28 Auditing Oracle Label Security Policy Actions

CREATE AUDIT POLICY generic_audit_pol
 ACTIONS UPDATE ON HR.EMPLOYEES, DELETE ON HR.EMPLOYEES
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=OLS DROP POLICY, DISABLE POLICY, UNSUBSCRIBE OID;

AUDIT POLICY generic_audit_pol BY HR, LBACSYS WHENEVER SUCCESSFUL;
26.3.15.8 Example: Querying for Audited OLS Session Labels

The LBACSYS.ORA_GET_AUDITED_LABEL function can be used in a UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL query to find audited Oracle Label Security session labels.

Example 26-29 shows how to use the LBACSYS.ORA_GET_AUDITED_LABEL function in a UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view query.

Example 26-29 Querying for Audited Oracle Label Security Session Labels

SELECT ENTRY_ID, SESSIONID,
       LBACSYS.ORA_GET_AUDITED_LABEL( APPLICATION_CONTEXTS,'GENERIC_AUDIT_POL1') AS  SESSION_LABEL1,
       LBACSYS.ORA_GET_AUDITED_LABEL( APPLICATION_CONTEXTS,'GENERIC_AUDIT_POL2') AS  SESSION_LABEL2
FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL;
/

ENTRY_ID  SESSIONID  SESSION_LABEL1  SESSION_LABEL2
--------  ---------  --------------  --------------
       1       1023  SECRET          LEVEL_ALPHA
       2       1024  TOP_SECRET      LEVEL_BETA
26.3.15.9 How Oracle Label Security Audit Events Appear in the Audit Trail

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists Oracle Label Security audit events.

The OLS_* columns of the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view show Oracle Label Security-specific audit data. For example: 

SELECT OLS_PRIVILEGES_USED FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL WHERE DBUSERNAME = 'psmith';

OLS_PRIVILEGES_USED
-------------------
READ
WRITEUP
WRITEACROSS

The session labels that the audit trail captures are stored in the APPLICATION_CONTEXTS column of the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view. You can use the LBACSYS.ORA_GET_AUDITED_LABEL function to retrieve session labels that are stored in the APPLICATION_CONTEXTS column. This function accepts the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL.APPLICATION_CONTEXTS column value, and the Oracle Label Security policy name as arguments, and then returns the session label that is stored in the column for the specified policy.

26.3.16 Auditing Oracle Machine Learning for SQL Events

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to audit Oracle Machine Learning for SQL events.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.16.1 About Auditing Oracle Machine Learning for SQL Events

You must have the AUDIT_ADMIN role to audit Oracle Machine Learning for SQL events.

To access the audit trail, you can query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view.

26.3.16.2 Oracle Machine Learning for SQL Unified Audit Trail Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Machine Learning for SQL audit events..

Table 26-18 describes these events.

Table 26-18 Oracle Machine Learning for SQL Audit Events

Audit Event Description

AUDIT

Generates an audit record for a Oracle Machine Learning for SQL model

COMMENT

Adds a comment to a Oracle Machine Learning for SQL model

GRANT

Gives permission to a user to access the Oracle Machine Learning for SQL model

RENAME

Changes the name of the Oracle Machine Learning for SQL model

SELECT

Applies the Oracle Machine Learning for SQL model or view its signature
26.3.16.3 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy for Oracle Machine Learning for SQL

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement ACTIONS and ON MINING MODEL clauses can be used to create Oracle Machine Learning for SQL event unified audit policies.

  • Use the following syntax to create a unified audit policy for Oracle Machine Learning for SQL:

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name 
ACTIONS {operation | ALL} 
ON MINING MODEL schema_name.model_name;

For example:

CREATE AUDIT POLICY dm_ops ACTIONS RENAME ON MINING MODEL hr.dm_emp;

You can build more complex policies, such as those that include conditions. Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.16.4 Example: Auditing Multiple Oracle Machine Learning for SQL Operations by a User

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit multiple Oracle Machine Learning for SQL operations.

Example 26-30 shows how to audit multiple Oracle Machine Learning for SQL operations by user psmith. Include the ON MINING MODEL schema_name.model_name clause for each event, and separate each with a comma. This example specifies the same schema_name.model name for both actions, but the syntax enables you to specify different schema_name.model_name settings for different schemas and data models.

Example 26-30 Auditing Multiple Oracle Machine Learning for SQL Operations by a User

CREATE AUDIT POLICY dm_ops_pol 
ACTIONS SELECT ON MINING MODEL dmuser1.nb_model, ALTER ON MINING MODEL dmuser1.nb_model;

AUDIT POLICY dm_ops_pol BY psmith;
26.3.16.5 Example: Auditing All Failed Oracle Machine Learning for SQL Operations by a User

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit failed Oracle Machine Learning for SQL operations by a user.

Example 26-31 shows how to audit all failed Oracle Machine Learning for SQL operations by user psmith.

Example 26-31 Auditing All Failed Oracle Machine Learning for SQL Operations by a User

CREATE AUDIT POLICY dm_all_ops_pol ACTIONS ALL ON MINING MODEL dmuser1.nb_model;

AUDIT POLICY dm_all_ops_pol BY psmith WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL;
26.3.16.6 How Oracle Machine Learning for SQL Events Appear in the Audit Trail

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists Oracle Machine Learning for SQL audit events.

The following example shows how to query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view for Machine Learning for SQL audit events. 

SELECT DBUSERNAME, ACTION_NAME, SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED, RETURN_CODE,
OBJECT_SCHEMA, OBJECT_NAME, SQL_TEXT
FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL;

DBUSERNAME ACTION_NAME          SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_USED     RETURN_CODE
---------- -------------------- ------------------------- -----------
OBJECT_SCHEMA        OBJECT_NAME
-------------------- --------------------
SQL_TEXT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DMUSER1    CREATE MINING MODEL  CREATE MINING MODEL                 0
DMUSER1
BEGIN
  dbms_data_mining.create_model(model_name => 'nb_model',
                mining_function => dbms_data_mining.classification,
                data_table_name => 'dm_data',
                case_id_column_name => 'case_id',
                target_column_name => 'target');
END;
 
DMUSER1    SELECT MINING MODEL                                      0
DMUSER1              NB_MODEL
select prediction(nb_model using *) from dual
 
DMUSER2    SELECT MINING MODEL                                  40284
DMUSER1              NB_MODEL
select prediction(dmuser1.nb_model using *) from dual
 
DMUSER1    ALTER MINING MODEL                                       0
DMUSER1              NB_MODEL
BEGIN dbms_data_mining.rename_model('nb_model', 'nb_model1'); END;
 
 
DMUSER2    ALTER MINING MODEL                                   40284
DMUSER1              NB_MODEL
BEGIN dbms_data_mining.rename_model('dmuser1.nb_model1', 'nb_model'); END;
 
 
DMUSER2    ALTER MINING MODEL                                   40284
DMUSER1              NB_MODEL
BEGIN dbms_data_mining.rename_model('dmuser1.nb_model1', 'nb_model'); END;

26.3.17 Auditing Oracle Data Pump Events

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to audit Oracle Data Pump.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.17.1 About Auditing Oracle Data Pump Events

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement COMPONENT clause must be set to DATAPUMP to create Oracle Data Pump unified audit policies.

You can audit Data Pump export (expdp) and import (impdp) operations.

As with all unified auditing, you must have the AUDIT_ADMIN role before you can audit Oracle Data Pump events.

To access the audit trail, query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view. The Data Pump-specific columns in this view begin with DP_.

26.3.17.2 Oracle Data Pump Unified Audit Trail Events

The unified audit trail can capture Oracle Data Pump events.

The unified audit trail captures information about both export (expdp) and import (impdp) operations.

26.3.17.3 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy for Oracle Data Pump

The ACTIONS COMPONENT clause in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can be used to create an Oracle Data Pump event unified audit policy.

  • Use the following syntax to create a unified audit policy for Oracle Data Pump: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name 
ACTIONS COMPONENT=DATAPUMP { EXPORT | IMPORT | ALL };

For example: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_dp_export_pol
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DATAPUMP EXPORT;

You can build more complex policies, such as those that include conditions. Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.17.4 Example: Auditing Oracle Data Pump Import Operations

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit Oracle Data Pump import operations.

Example 26-32 shows how to audit all Oracle Data Pump import operations.

Example 26-32 Auditing Oracle Data Pump Import Operations

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_dp_import_pol
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DATAPUMP IMPORT;

AUDIT POLICY audit_dp_import_pol;
26.3.17.5 Example: Auditing All Oracle Data Pump Operations

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit all Oracle Data Pump operations.

Example 26-33 shows how to audit both Oracle Database Pump export and import operations.

Example 26-33 Auditing All Oracle Data Pump Operations

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_dp_all_pol
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DATAPUMP ALL;

AUDIT POLICY audit_dp_all_pol BY SYSTEM;
26.3.17.6 How Oracle Data Pump Audited Events Appear in the Audit Trail

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists Oracle Data Pump audited events.

The DP_* columns of the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view show Oracle Data Pump-specific audit data. For example: 

SELECT DP_TEXT_PARAMETERS1, DP_BOOLEAN_PARAMETERS1, DP_WARNINGS1 FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL
WHERE AUDIT_TYPE = 'DATAPUMP';

DP_TEXT_PARAMETERS1                            DP_BOOLEAN_PARAMETERS1  DP_WARNINGS1
---------------------------------------------- ----------------------- –--------------------------------------------------------------------------

MASTER TABLE:  "SCOTT"."SYS_EXPORT_TABLE_01",  MASTER_ONLY: FALSE,     WARNING(S) ISSUED: ORA-39173: Encrypted data has been stored unencrypted in
JOB_TYPE: EXPORT,                              DATA_ONLY: FALSE,       dump
METADATA_JOB_MODE: TABLE_EXPORT,               METADATA_ONLY: FALSE,
JOB VERSION: 19.1.0.0,                         DUMPFILE_PRESENT: TRUE, 
ACCESS METHOD: DIRECT_PATH,                    JOB_RESTARTED: FALSE 
DATA OPTIONS: 0, 
DUMPER DIRECTORY: NULL  
REMOTE LINK: NULL, 
TABLE EXISTS: NULL, 
PARTITION OPTIONS: NONE

(This output was reformatted for easier readability.)

26.3.18 Auditing Oracle SQL*Loader Direct Load Path Events

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to audit Oracle SQL*Loader direct load path events.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.18.1 About Auditing in Oracle SQL*Loader Direct Path Load Events

You must have the AUDIT_ADMIN role to audit Oracle SQL*Loader direct path events.

To create SQL*Loader unified audit policies, you must set the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement's COMPONENT clause to DIRECT_LOAD. You can audit direct path load operations only, not other SQL*Loader loads, such as conventional path loads.

To access the audit trail, you can query the DIRECT_PATH_NUM_COLUMNS_LOADED column in the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view.

26.3.18.2 Oracle SQL*Loader Direct Load Path Unified Audit Trail Events

The unified audit trail can capture SQL*Loader Direct Load Path events.

The unified audit trail captures information about direct path loads that SQL*Loader performs (that is, when you set direct=true on the SQL*Loader command line or in the SQL*Loader control file).

It also audits Oracle Call Interface (OCI) programs that use the direct path API.

26.3.18.3 Configuring a Unified Audit Trail Policy for Oracle SQL*Loader Direct Path Events

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement ACTIONS COMPONENT clause can create unified audit policies for Oracle SQL*Loader direct path events.

  • Use the following syntax to create an Oracle SQL*Loader unified audit policy: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name 
ACTIONS COMPONENT=DIRECT_LOAD { LOAD };

For example: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_sqlldr_pol
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DIRECT_LOAD LOAD;

You can build more complex policies, such as those that include conditions. Remember that after you create the policy, you must use the AUDIT statement to enable it.

26.3.18.4 Example: Auditing Oracle SQL*Loader Direct Path Load Operations

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit Oracle SQL*Loader direct path load operations.

Example 26-32 shows how to audit SQL*Loader direct path load operations.

Example 26-34 Auditing Oracle SQL*Loader Direct Path Load Operations

CREATE AUDIT POLICY audit_sqlldr_load_pol
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=DIRECT_LOAD LOAD;

AUDIT POLICY audit_sqlldr_load_pol;
26.3.18.5 How SQL*Loader Direct Path Load Audited Events Appear in the Audit Trail

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists SQL*Loader direct path load audited events.

The DIRECT_PATH_NUM_COLUMNS_LOADED column of the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view shows the number of columns that were loaded using the SQL*Loader direct path load method. For example: 

SELECT DBUSERNAME, ACTION_NAME, OBJECT_SCHEMA, OBJECT_NAME, DIRECT_PATH_NUM_COLUMNS_LOADED FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL WHERE AUDIT_TYPE = 'DIRECT PATH API';

DBUSERNAME  ACTION_NAME OBJECT_SCHEMA OBJECT_NAME  DIRECT_PATH_NUM_COLUMNS_LOADED
----------- ----------- ------------- ------------ ------------------------------
RLAYTON     INSERT       HR            EMPLOYEES    4

26.3.19 Auditing Oracle XML DB HTTP and FTP Protocols

You can use the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement to audit Oracle XML DB HTTP and FTP protocol messages.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.19.1 About Auditing Oracle XML DB HTTP and FTP Protocols

You must have the AUDIT_ADMIN role to audit Oracle XDB HTTP and FTP protocol messages.

Oracle Database can audit all or failed HTTP messages, 401 AUTH HTTP return code messages, and all or failed FTP messages. The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view captures the result of the audit in the PROTOCOL_* columns.

Be aware that a unified audit policy for HTTP and FTP protocols can affect performance.

26.3.19.2 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy to Capture Oracle XML DB HTTP and FTP Protocols

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can create a unified audit policy for Oracle XML DB HTTP and FTP protocols.

  • Use the following syntax to create a unified audit policy for Oracle XML DB HTTP and FTP protocols:
    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name
ACTIONS COMPONENT=PROTOCOL [ HTTP | FTP | AUTHENTICATION];

    In this specification:

    • HTTP enabling auditing of Oracle XML DB HTTP messages.
    • FTP enables auditing of Oracle XML DB FTP messages.
    • AUTHENTICATION enables auditing of HTTP 401 AUTH messages.

    For example:

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY http_pol
ACTIONS COMPONENT=PROTOCOL HTTP;
26.3.19.3 Example: Auditing Failed Oracle XML DB HTTP Messages

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit failed Oracle XML DB HTTP messages.

Example 26-35 shows an example of creating and enabling a unified audit policy that tracks failed HTTP messages.

Example 26-35 Auditing Failed Oracle XML DB HTTP Messages

CREATE AUDIT POLICY failed_http_pol
ACTIONS COMPONENT=PROTOCOL HTTP;

AUDIT POLICY failed_http_pol WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL;
26.3.19.4 Example: Auditing All Oracle XML DB FTP Messages

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit all Oracle XML DB FTP messages.

Example 26-36 shows an example of creating and enabling a unified audit policy that tracks all FTP messages.

Example 26-36 Auditing All Oracle XML DB FTP Messages

CREATE AUDIT POLICY all_ftp_pol
ACTIONS COMPONENT=PROTOCOL FTP;

AUDIT POLICY all_ftp_pol;
26.3.19.5 Example: Auditing Oracle XML DB HTTP Messages That Have 401 AUTH Errors

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can audit HTTP messages that have 401 AUTH errors.

Example 26-37 shows an example of creating and enabling a unified audit policy that tracks 401 AUTH messages. When you enable this type of policy, you can set it without using the WHENEVER clause or set it using the WHENEVER SUCCESSFUL clause. Using a WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL will not audit 401 AUTH errors.

Example 26-37 Auditing Oracle XML DB HTTP Messages with 401 AUTH Errors

CREATE AUDIT POLICY 401_error_pol
ACTIONS COMPONENT=PROTOCOL AUTHENTICATION;

AUDIT POLICY 401_error_pol;
26.3.19.6 How the Unified Audit Trail Captures Oracle XML DB HTTP and FTP Protocol Messages

The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view lists Oracle XML DB HTTP and FTP protocol messages.

The PROTOCOL_* columns capture HTTP- and FTP-specific information such as the session ID, the return code, the type of request, and the text of the request or reply.

For example, the following query shows that the HTTP-GET request/reply had a return code of 207, which means the reply may have multiple components with separate return codes: 

SELECT PROTOCOL_RETURN_CODE, PROTOCOL_ACTION_NAME 
FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICY 
WHERE USERHOST = "HR_SRV"; 

PROTOCOL_RETURN_CODE  PROTOCOL_ACTION_NAME
–-------------------  –-------------------
207                   HTTP-GET-CMD
207                   HTTP-GET

26.3.20 Auditing Only Top-Level Statements

You can audit top-level SQL or PL/SQL statements to limit the volume of audit records.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.20.1 About Auditing Only Top-Level SQL Statements

A top-level statement is a statement that is executed directly by a user, not a statement that is run from within a PL/SQL procedure.

The ability to audit top-level statements means that you can filter the output so that only a subset of the audit records appears. For a majority of cases, only a single audit record will be generated for a specified audit statement. However, generating a single audit record for one audit statement is not true for an end user who issues SQL queries on database views that are built on top of multiple other database tables and views underneath. When a view is accessed in a query, Oracle Database expands it internally to access each of the underlying objects on which the view is built. From security point of view, Oracle Database will always generate one audit record for each object that is accessed as part of the view that was accessed in the query, even when the unified audit policy is tracking ONLY TOPLEVEL. In fact, the multiple audit records will have the same SQL_TEXT and same STATEMENT_ID values populated in the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view but different OBJECT_NAME values.

You can audit top-level statements from all users, including user SYS. The advantage of restricting the unified audit trail to top-level statements is that it greatly reduces the size of the audit trail, particularly in cases where a large number of audit trail records are generated for a single statement in the unified audit policy. This feature helps to reduce recursive SQL statements. By limiting these audit records, this feature also reduces the number of records that do not provide useful data. An example of this scenario would be audits for the DBMS_STATS.GATHER_DATABASE_STATS SQL statement, which can generate over 200,000 individual audit records. By reducing the audit trail, this feature improves database performance and saves space in the database (and in the Oracle Audit Vault repository if it is being used).

26.3.20.2 Configuring a Unified Audit Policy to Capture Only Top-Level Statements

The ONLY TOPLEVEL clause in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement enables you to audit only the SQL statements that are directly issued by an end user by honoring the audit configuration in the audit policy.

To find policies that include the ONLY TOPLEVEL clause, query the AUDIT_ONLY_TOPLEVEL column of the AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICIES data dictionary view.
Use the following syntax to create a unified audit policy that audits only top-level SQL statements. 
CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name
all_existing_options
ONLY TOPLEVEL;

For example, to limit the audit trail to top-level instances of the SELECT statement on the HR.EMPLOYEES table: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY actions_on_hr_emp_pol
ACTIONS SELECT ON HR.EMPLOYEES
ONLY TOPLEVEL;
26.3.20.3 Example: Auditing Top-Level Statements

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can include or exclude top-level statement audit records in the unified audit trail for any user.

The following example shows an audit policy that will capture all top level statements executed by user SYS.

Example 26-38 Example: Auditing Top-Level Statements Run by User SYS

CREATE AUDIT POLICY actions_all_pol ACTIONS ALL
ONLY TOPLEVEL;

AUDIT POLICY actions_all_pol BY SYS;
26.3.20.4 Example: Comparison of Top-Level SQL Statement Audits

You can generate top-level SQL statement audit records from SQL statements that are run directly in SQL or from within a PL/SQL procedure.

This example shows how generating audit records differs when you access a view outside a PL/SQL procedure as opposed to accessing the view inside the PL/SQL procedure. The output illustrates the difference in volume in audit records that are generated from the two different audit policies.

  1. Log in to the database instance as user SYS with the SYSDBA administrative privilege.

    In a multitenant environment, log in to the PDB. To find the available PDBs in a CDB, log in to the CDB root container and then query the PDB_NAME column of the DBA_PDBS data dictionary view. To check the current container, run the show con_name command.

  2. Create the following procedure:
    CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE proc1 AS
cnt number;
BEGIN
  SELECT COUNT(*) INTO CNT FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999;
END;
/
  3. Create the and enable following audit policy to capture top-level actions:
    CREATE AUDIT POLICY toplevel_pol ACTIONS ALL ONLY TOPLEVEL;
AUDIT POLICY toplevel_pol;
  4. Run the following query to generate an audit record and to access the SYS.DBA_USERS view outside of the proc1 procedure that you just created:
    SELECT /* TOPLEVEL */ COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=0000;

    The output should be as follows:

      COUNT(*)
----------
         1
  5. Run the proc1 procedure that you created earlier, to access the SYS.DBA_USERS view again, but from within a procedure. 
    EXEC proc1;
  6. Query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view as follows:
    SELECT ACTION_NAME, OBJECT_SCHEMA,OBJECT_NAME,STATEMENT_ID,ENTRY_ID,
  UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES,SQL_TEXT 
  FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
  ORDER BY EVENT_TIMESTAMP;

    Output similar to the following appears:

    ACTION_NAME          OBJECT_SCHEMA
-------------------- ------------------------------
OBJECT_NAME                    STATEMENT_ID   ENTRY_ID
------------------------------ ------------ ----------
UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES
------------------------------
SQL_TEXT
------------------------------------------------------------
LOGON
                                          1          1
TOPLEVEL_POL


COMMIT
                                          3          2
TOPLEVEL_POL


COMMIT
                                          4          3
TOPLEVEL_POL


SELECT               SYS
USER$                                     5          4
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

SELECT               SYS
RESOURCE_GROUP_MAPPING$                   5          5
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

SELECT               SYS
TS$                                       5          6
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

SELECT               SYS
TS$                                       5          7
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

SELECT               SYS
TS$                                       5          8
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

SELECT               SYS
PROFNAME$                                 5          9
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

SELECT               SYS
USER_ASTATUS_MAP                          5         10
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

SELECT               SYS
PROFILE$                                  5         11
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

SELECT               SYS
PROFILE$                                  5         12
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

SELECT               SYS
DBA_USERS                                 5         13
TOPLEVEL_POL
select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
_id=0000

EXECUTE              SYS
PROC1                                     7         14
TOPLEVEL_POL
BEGIN proc1; END;

14 rows selected.
  7. Disable and then drop the toplevel_pol audit policy. 
    NOAUDIT POLICY toplevel_pol;
DROP AUDIT POLICY toplevel_pol;
  8. Create and enable a new audit policy to capture all actions.
    CREATE AUDIT POLICY recursive_pol ACTIONS ALL;
AUDIT POLICY recursive_pol;
  9. Clean up the audit trail. 
    DBMS_AUDIT_MGMT.CLEAN_AUDIT_TRAIL(DBMS_AUDIT_MGMT.AUDIT_TRAIL_UNIFIED,FALSE);
  10. Run the following query to generate an audit record and to access the SYS.DBA_USERS view outside of the proc1 procedure: 
    SELECT /* TOPLEVEL */ COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=0000;

    The output should be as follows:

      COUNT(*)
----------
         1
  11. Run the proc1 procedure to access the SYS.DBA_USERS again, but from within the proc1 procedure. 
    EXEC proc1;
  12. Query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view as follows:
    SELECT ACTION_NAME, OBJECT_SCHEMA,OBJECT_NAME,STATEMENT_ID,ENTRY_ID,
  UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES,SQL_TEXT 
  FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
  ORDER BY EVENT_TIMESTAMP;

    Output similar to the following should appear:

    ACTION_NAME          OBJECT_SCHEMA
-------------------- ------------------------------
OBJECT_NAME                    UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES         STATEMENT_ID
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------
  ENTRY_ID SQL_TEXT
---------- ------------------------------------------------------------
LOGON
                               RECURSIVE_POL                             1
         1

ALTER SESSION
                               RECURSIVE_POL                             1
         2 ALTER SESSION SET TIME_ZONE='-07:00'

COMMIT
                               RECURSIVE_POL                             3
         3
COMMIT
                               RECURSIVE_POL                             4
         4

SELECT               SYS
USER$                          RECURSIVE_POL                             5
         5 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
RESOURCE_GROUP_MAPPING$        RECURSIVE_POL                             5
         6 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
TS$                            RECURSIVE_POL                             5
         7 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
TS$                            RECURSIVE_POL                             5
         8 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
TS$                            RECURSIVE_POL                             5
         9 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
PROFNAME$                      RECURSIVE_POL                             5
        10 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
USER_ASTATUS_MAP               RECURSIVE_POL                             5
        11 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
PROFILE$                       RECURSIVE_POL                             5
        12 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
PROFILE$                       RECURSIVE_POL                             5
        13 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
DBA_USERS                      RECURSIVE_POL                             5
        14 select /* toplevel */ count(*) from sys.dba_users where user
           _id=0000

SELECT               SYS
USER$                          RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        15 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

SELECT               SYS
RESOURCE_GROUP_MAPPING$        RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        16 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

SELECT               SYS
TS$                            RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        17 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

SELECT               SYS
TS$                            RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        18 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

SELECT               SYS
TS$                            RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        19 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

SELECT               SYS
PROFNAME$                      RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        20 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

SELECT               SYS
USER_ASTATUS_MAP               RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        21 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

SELECT               SYS
PROFILE$                       RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        22 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

SELECT               SYS
PROFILE$                       RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        23 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

SELECT               SYS
DBA_USERS                      RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        24 SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SYS.DBA_USERS WHERE USER_ID=9999

EXECUTE              SYS
PROC1                          RECURSIVE_POL                             7
        25 BEGIN proc1; END;

25 rows selected.

    The output in this query generates 25 records, as opposed to the 14 that were generated earlier.

  13. Disable and remove the recursive_pol policy. 
    NOAUDIT POLICY recursive_pol;
DROP AUDIT POLICY recursive_pol;
26.3.20.5 How the Unified Audit Trail Captures Top-Level SQL Statements

The ONLY TOPLEVEL clause has no impact on the output for an individual unified audit trail record.

The only effect that ONLY TOPLEVEL has on a policy is to limit the number of records generated for the given unified audit policy.

26.3.21 Unified Audit Policies or AUDIT Settings in a Multitenant Environment

You can create unified audit policies for individual PDBs and in the root.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.21.1 About Local, CDB Common, and Application Common Audit Policies

An audit policy can be either a local audit policy, a CDB common audit policy, or an application common audit policy.

This applies to both unified audit policies and policies that are created using the AUDIT SQL statement.

  • Local audit policy. This type of policy can exist in either the root (CDB or application) or the PDB (CDB or application). A local audit policy that exists in the root can contain object audit options for both local and common objects. Both local and common users who have been granted the AUDIT_ADMIN role can enable local policies: local users from their PDBs and common users from the root or the PDB to which they have privileges. You can enable a local audit policy for both local and common users and roles.

    You can create local audit policies for application local objects and application local roles, as well as system action options and system privilege options. You cannot enforce a local audit policy for a common user across all containers, nor can you enforce a common audit policy for a local user.

  • CDB common audit policy. This type of policy is available to all PDBs in the multitenant environment. Only common users who have been granted the AUDIT_ADMIN role can create and maintain common audit policies. You can enable common audit policies only for common users. You must create common audit policies only in the root. This type of policy can contain object audit options of only common objects, and be enabled only for common users. You can enable a common audit policy for common users and roles only.

    You cannot enforce a common audit policy for a local user across all containers.

  • Application common audit policy. Similar to CDB common audit policies, this type of policy is available to all PDBs in the multitenant environment. You can create common audit policies for application common objects and application common roles, as well as system action options and system privilege options. You can only create this type of policy in the application root container, but you can enable it on both application common users and CDB common users. If you want to audit objects, then ensure that these objects are application common objects. You can determine whether an object is an application common object by querying the SHARING column of the DBA_OBJECTS data dictionary view.

By default, audit policies are local to the current PDB, for both CDB and application scenarios.

The following table explains how audit policies apply in different multitenant environments.

Table 26-19 How Audit Policies Apply to the CDB Root, Application Root, and Individual PDBs

Audit Option Type CDB Root Application Root Individual PDB

Common audit statement or audit policy

Applies to CDB common users

Applies to CDB common users

Applies to CDB common users

Application container common audit statement or audit policy

Not applicable

  • Applies to CDB common users and are valid for the current application container only

  • Applies to application container common users

  • Applies to CDB common users and are valid for this application container only

  • Applies to application common users

Local audit statement or audit policy

Local configurations not allowed

Local configurations not allowed

  • Applies to CDB common users

  • Applies to application common users
26.3.21.2 Overview of Common Audit Configurations

For both mixed mode and unified auditing, a common audit configuration is visible and enforced across all PDBs.

Audit configurations are either local or common. The scoping rules that apply to other local or common phenomena, such as users and roles, all apply to audit configurations.

Note:

Audit initialization parameters exist at the CDB level and not in each PDB.

PDBs support the following auditing options:

  • Object auditing

    Object auditing refers to audit configurations for specific objects. Only common objects can be part of the common audit configuration. A local audit configuration cannot contain common objects.

  • Audit policies

    Audit policies can be local or common:

    • Local audit policies

      A local audit policy applies to a single PDB. You can enforce local audit policies for local and common users in this PDB only. Attempts to enforce local audit policies across all containers result in an error.

      In all cases, enforcing of a local audit policy is part of the local auditing framework.

    • Common audit policies

      A common audit policy applies to all containers. This policy can only contain actions, system privileges, common roles, and common objects. You can apply a common audit policy only to common users. Attempts to enforce a common audit policy for a local user across all containers result in an error.

A common audit configuration is stored in the SYS schema of the root. A local audit configuration is stored in the SYS schema of the PDB to which it applies.

Audit trails are stored in the SYS or AUDSYS schemas of the relevant PDBs. Operating system and XML audit trails for PDBs are stored in subdirectories of the directory specified by the AUDIT_FILE_DEST initialization parameter.

26.3.21.3 Traditional Auditing in a Multitenant Environment

In traditional auditing (not unified auditing), the AUDIT and NOAUDIT statements can audit statements and privileges in a multitenant environment.

Note:

Starting with Oracle Database release 21c, traditional auditing is deprecated. Oracle recommends that you use unified auditing instead.

To configure the audit policy to be either a local audit policy or a common audit policy, you must include the CONTAINER clause, as you normally do for other SQL creation or modification statements. If you want to audit an application container, then you can audit SQL statement and system privileges performed by local and common users and roles. The audit record will be created in the container in which the action was performed.

  • If you want to apply the AUDIT or NOAUDIT statement to the current CDB or application PDB, then in this PDB, you must set CONTAINER to CURRENT. For example: 

    AUDIT DROP ANY TABLE BY SYSTEM BY ACCESS CONTAINER = CURRENT;

  • If you want to apply the AUDIT or NOAUDIT statement to the entire multitenant environment, then in the CDB root, then you must set CONTAINER to ALL. For an application container, you would set it in the application root. For example: 

    AUDIT DROP ANY TABLE BY SYSTEM BY ACCESS CONTAINER = ALL;

To find if a traditional audit option is designed for use in an application container, perform a join query with the DBA_OBJ_AUDIT_OPTS and DBA_OBJECTS data dictionary views, by using the OWNER and OBJECT_NAME columns in both views, and the APPLICATION column in DBA_OBJECTS.

26.3.21.4 Configuring a Local Unified Audit Policy or Common Unified Audit Policy

The CONTAINER clause is specific to multitenant environment use for the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement.

To create a local or common (CDB or application) unified audit policy in either the CDB environment or an application container environment, include the CONTAINER clause in the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement.

  • Use the following syntax to create a local or common unified audit policy: 

    CREATE AUDIT POLICY policy_name
 action1 [,action2 ]
 [CONTAINER = {CURRENT | ALL}];

In this specification:

  • CURRENT sets the audit policy to be local to the current PDB.

  • ALL makes the audit policy a common audit policy, that is, available to the entire multitenant environment.

For example, for a common unified audit policy: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY dict_updates 
 ACTIONS UPDATE ON SYS.USER$, 
  DELETE ON SYS.USER$, 
  UPDATE ON SYS.LINK$, 
  DELETE ON SYS.LINK$ 
  CONTAINER = ALL;

Note the following:

  • You can set the CONTAINER clause for the CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement but not for ALTER AUDIT POLICY or DROP AUDIT POLICY. If you want to change the scope of an existing unified audit policy to use this setting, then you must drop and re-create the policy.

  • For AUDIT statements, you can set the CONTAINER clause for audit settings only if you have an Oracle database that has not been migrated to the Release 12.x and later audit features. You cannot use the CONTAINER clause in an AUDIT statement that is used to enable a unified audit policy.

  • If you are in a PDB, then you can only set the CONTAINER clause to CURRENT, not ALL. If you omit the setting while in the PDB, then the default is CONTAINER = CURRENT.

  • If you are in the root, then you can set the CONTAINER clause to either CURRENT if you want the policy to apply to the root only, or to ALL if you want the policy to apply to the entire CDB. If you omit the CONTAINER clause, then default is CONTAINER = CURRENT.

  • For objects:

    • Common audit policies can have common objects only and local audit policies can have both local objects and common objects.

    • You cannot set CONTAINER to ALL if the objects involved are local. They must be common objects.

  • For privileges:

    • You can set the CONTAINER to CURRENT (or omit the CONTAINER clause) if the user accounts involved are a mixture of local and common accounts. This creates a local audit configuration that applies only to the current PDB.

    • You cannot set CONTAINER to ALL if the users involved are local users. They must be common users.

    • If you set CONTAINER to ALL and do not specify a user list (using the BY clause in the AUDIT statement), then the configuration applies to all common users in each PDB.

  • For application containers, you can run a common unified audit policy from the application container script that is used for application install, upgrade, patch, and uninstall operations. To do so:

    1. Create a common unified audit policy in the application container root, and set this policy to CONTAINER = ALL. Alternatively, you can include this policy in the script that is described in this next step.

    2. Create a custom version of the script you normally would use to install, upgrade, patch, or uninstall Oracle Database.

    3. Within this script, include the SQL statements that you want to audit within the following lines:

      ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE APPLICATION BEGIN INSTALL
List SQL statements here. Separate each statement with a semi-colon.
ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE APPLICATION END INSTALL

      If you include the unified audit policy in the script, then ensure that you include both the CREATE AUDIT POLICY and AUDIT POLICY statements.

    After the audit policy is created and enabled, all user access to the application common objects is audited irrespective of whether the audit policy is defined in the database or from the script.

  • To audit application install, upgrade, patch, and uninstall operations locally in an application root or an application PDB, follow a procedure similar to the preceding procedure for common unified audit policies, but synchronize the application PDB afterward. For example:

    ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE APPLICATION application_name SYNC;
26.3.21.5 Example: Local Unified Audit Policy

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can create a local unified audit policy in either the root or a PDB.

When you create a local unified audit policy in the root, it only applies to the root and not across the multitenant environment.

The following example shows a local unified audit policy that has been created by the common user c##sec_admin from a PDB and applied to common user c##hr_admin.

Example 26-39 Local Unified Audit Policy

CONNECT c##sec_admin@pdb_name
Enter password: password
Connected.

CREATE AUDIT POLICY table_privs
 PRIVILEGES CREATE ANY TABLE, DROP ANY TABLE
 CONTAINER = CURRENT;

AUDIT POLICY table_privs BY c##hr_admin;
26.3.21.6 Example: CDB Common Unified Audit Policy

The CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement can create a CDB common unified audit policy.

Example 26-40 shows a common unified audit policy that has been created by the common user c##sec_admin from the root and applied to common user c##hr_admin.

Example 26-40 Common Unified Audit Policy

CONNECT c##sec_admin
Enter password: password
Connected.

CREATE AUDIT POLICY admin_pol
 ACTIONS CREATE TABLE, ALTER TABLE, DROP TABLE
 ROLES c##hr_mgr, c##hr_sup
 CONTAINER = ALL;

AUDIT POLICY admin_pol BY c##hr_admin;
26.3.21.7 Example: Application Common Unified Audit Policy

For application container common unified audit policies, you can audit action options and system privilege options, and refer to common objects and roles.

You can create the application common audit policy only from the application root, and enable the policy for both application common users and CDB common users.

The following example shows how to create a policy that audits the application common user SYSTEM for the application container app_pdb. The audit policy audits SELECT actions on the SYSTEM.utils_tab table and on DROP TABLE actions on any of the PDBs in the container database, including the CDB root. The policy also audits the use of the SELECT ANY TABLE system privilege across all containers.

Example 26-41 Application Common Unified Audit Policy

CONNECT c##sec_admin@app_pdb
Enter password: password
Connected.

CREATE AUDIT POLICY app_pdb_admin_pol
 ACTIONS SELECT ON hr_app_cdb.utils_tab, DROP TABLE
 PRIVILEGES SELECT ANY TABLE
 CONTAINER = ALL;

AUDIT POLICY app_pdb_admin_pol by SYSTEM, c##hr_admin;

In the preceding example, setting CONTAINER to ALL applies the policy only to all the relevant object accesses in the application root and on all the application PDBs that belong to the application root. It does not apply the policy outside this scope.

26.3.21.8 How Local or Common Audit Policies or Settings Appear in the Audit Trail

You can query unified audit policy views from either the root or the PDB in which the action occurred.

You can perform the following types of queries:

  • Audit records from all PDBs. The audit trail reflects audited actions that have been performed in the PDBs. For example, if user lbrown in PDB1 performs an action that has been audited by either a common or a local audit policy, then the audit trail will capture this action. The DBID column in the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view indicates the PDB in which the audited action takes place and to which the policy applies. If you want to see audit records from all PDBs, you should query the CDB_UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view from the root.

  • Audit records from common audit policies. This location is where the common audit policy results in an audit record. The audit record can be generated anywhere in the multitenant environment—the root or the PDBs, depending on where the action really occurred. For example, the common audit policy fga_pol audits the EXECUTE privilege on the DBMS_FGA PL/SQL package, and if this action occurs in PDB1, then the audit record is generated in PDB1 and not in the root. Hence, the audit record can be seen in PDB1.

    You can query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view for the policy from either the root or a PDB if you include a WHERE clause for the policy name (for example, WHERE UNIFIED_AUDIT_POLICIES = 'FGA_POL').

The following example shows how to find the results of a common unified audit policy:

CONNECT c##sec_admin
Enter password: password
Connected.

SELECT DBID, ACTION_NAME, OBJECT_SCHEMA, OBJECT_NAME FROM CDB_UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL WHERE DBUSERNAME = 'c##hr_admin';
46892-1
DBID        ACTION_NAME  OBJECT_SCHEMA  OBJECT_NAME
----------- -----------  -------------  -----------
653916017   UPDATE       HR             EMPLOYEES
653916018   UPDATE       HR             JOB_HISTORY
653916017   UPDATE       HR             JOBS

26.3.22 Altering Unified Audit Policies

You can use the ALTER AUDIT POLICY statement to modify a unified audit policy.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.22.1 About Altering Unified Audit Policies

You can change most properties in a unified audit policy, except for its CONTAINER setting.

You cannot alter unified audit policies in a multitenant environment. For example, you cannot turn a common unified audit policy into a local unified audit policy.

To find existing unified audit policies, query the AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICIES data dictionary view. If you want to find only the enabled unified audit policies, then query the AUDIT_UNIFIED_ENABLED_POLICIES view. You can alter both enabled and disabled audit policies. If you alter an enabled audit policy, it remains enabled after you alter it.

After you alter an object unified audit policy, the new audit settings take place immediately, for both the active and subsequent user sessions. If you alter system audit options, or audit conditions of the policy, then they are activated for new user sessions, but not the current user session.

26.3.22.2 Altering a Unified Audit Policy

The ALTER AUDIT POLICY statement can modify a unified audit policy.

  • Use the following syntax to alter a unified audit policy, you use the ALTER AUDIT POLICY statement.
    ALTER AUDIT POLICY  policy_name
[ADD [privilege_audit_clause][action_audit_clause]
  [role_audit_clause] [ONLY TOPLEVEL] ]
[DROP [privilege_audit_clause][action_audit_clause]
    [role_audit_clause] [ONLY TOPLEVEL]] 
[CONDITION {DROP | audit_condition EVALUATE PER {STATEMENT|SESSION|INSTANCE}}]

    In this specification:

    • ADD enables you to alter the following the following settings:

      • privilege_audit_clause describes privilege-related audit options. The detailed syntax for configuring privilege audit options is as follows: 

        ADD privilege_audit_clause  :=  PRIVILEGES  privilege1 [, privilege2]

      • action_audit_clause and standard_actions describe object action-related audit options. The syntax is as follows: 

        ADD action_audit_clause := {standard_actions | component_actions}
                                         [, component_actions ]
standard_actions :=
     ACTIONS action1 [ ON {schema.obj_name
                                          | DIRECTORY directory_name
                                          | MINING MODEL schema.obj_name
                                           }
                ] 
           [, action2 [ ON {schema.obj_name
                                          | DIRECTORY directory_name
                                          | MINING MODEL schema.obj_name  
                   }
                ]

      • role_audit_clause enables you to add or drop the policy for roles. The syntax is: 

        ADD role_audit_clause := ROLES role1 [, role2]
      • ONLY TOPLEVEL includes in the unified audit trail only the top-level SQL statements that are affected by this policy.

    • DROP enables you to drop the same components that are described for the ADD clause. For example: 

      DROP role_audit_clause := ROLES role1 [, role2 ONLY TOPLEVEl]

    • CONDITION {DROP... enables you to add or drop a condition for the policy. If you are altering an existing condition, then you must include the EVALUATE PER clause with the condition. The syntax is: 

      CONDITION 'audit_condition := function operation value_list'
EVALUATE PER {STATEMENT|SESSION|INSTANCE}

      If you want to drop a condition, then omit the condition definition and the EVALUATE PER clause. For example: 

      CONDITION DROP
26.3.22.3 Example: Altering a Condition in a Unified Audit Policy

The ALTER AUDIT POLICY statement can alter conditions in unified audit policies.

Example 26-42 shows how to change a condition in an existing unified audit policy.

Example 26-42 Altering a Condition in a Unified Audit Policy

ALTER AUDIT POLICY orders_unified_audpol
 ADD ACTIONS INSERT ON SCOTT.EMP
CONDITION 'SYS_CONTEXT(''ENTERPRISE'', ''GROUP'') =  ''ACCESS_MANAGER'''
EVALUATE PER SESSION;
26.3.22.4 Example: Altering an Oracle Label Security Component in a Unified Audit Policy

The ALTER AUDIT POLICY statement can alter Oracle Label Security components in an audit policy.

Example 26-43 shows how to alter an Oracle Label Security component in an audit policy.

Example 26-43 Altering an Oracle Label Security Component in a Unified Audit Policy

ALTER AUDIT POLICY audit_ols
 ADD ACTIONS SELECT ON HR.EMPLOYEES
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=OLS DROP POLICY, DISABLE POLICY, REMOVE POLICY;
26.3.22.5 Example: Altering Roles in a Unified Audit Policy

The ALTER AUDIT POLICY statement can alter roles in a unified audit policy.

Example 26-44 shows how to add roles to a common unified audit policy.

Example 26-44 Altering Roles in a Unified Audit Policy

CONNECT c##sec_admin
Enter password: password
Connected.

ALTER AUDIT POLICY RoleConnectAudit 
 ADD ROLES c##role1, c##role2;
26.3.22.6 Example: Dropping a Condition from a Unified Audit Policy

The ALTER AUDIT POLICY statement can drop a condition from a unified audit policy.

Example 26-45 shows how to drop a condition from an existing unified audit policy.

Example 26-45 Dropping a Condition from a Unified Audit Policy

ALTER AUDIT POLICY orders_unified_audpol
CONDITION DROP;
26.3.22.7 Example: Altering an Existing Unified Audit Policy Top-Level Statement Audits

The ALTER AUDIT POLICY statement can modify an existing unified audit policy so that the unified audit trail captures top-level SQL statements only.

The following example shows how to modify the orders_unified_audpol policy to capture only top-level SQL statements.

Example 26-46 Altering an Existing Unified Audit Policy to Audit for Top-Level Statements

ALTER AUDIT POLICY orders_unified_audpol ADD ONLY TOPLEVEL;

Similarly, to remove the top-level SQL statement audit, use the DROP clause: 

ALTER AUDIT POLICY orders_unified_audpol DROP ONLY TOPLEVEL;

26.3.23 Enabling and Applying Unified Audit Policies to Users and Roles

You can use the AUDIT POLICY statement to enable and apply unified audit policies to users and roles.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.23.1 About Enabling Unified Audit Policies

The AUDIT statement with the POLICY clause enables a unified audit policy, applying for all types of audit options, including object-level options.

The policy is enabled immediately in the current session and in any ongoing active sessions, including sessions for other users who are logged in.

You can enable the audit policy for individual users or for roles. Enabling the audit policy for roles allows you to enable the policy for a group of users who have been directly granted the role. When the role has been directly granted to a new user, then the policy automatically applies to the user. When the role is revoked from a user, then the policy no longer applies to the user.

You can check the results of the audit by querying the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view. To find a list of existing unified audit policies, query the AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICIES data dictionary view.

The AUDIT statement lets you specify the following optional additional settings:

  • Whether to apply the unified audit policy to one or more users or roles.To apply the policy to one or more users or roles, including administrative users who log in with the SYSDBA administrative privilege (such as SYS), use the BY clause. For example, to apply the policy to users SYS and SYSTEM:

    For example, to apply the policy to two users: 

    AUDIT POLICY role_connect_audit_pol BY SYS, SYSTEM;

    To apply a policy to users who have been directly granted the DBA and CDB_DBA roles: 

    AUDIT POLICY admin_audit_pol BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES DBA, CDB_DBA;

  • Whether to exclude users from the unified audit policy. To exclude users from the audit policy, include the EXCEPT clause.

    For example:

    AUDIT POLICY role_connect_audit_pol EXCEPT rlee, jrandolph;

  • Whether to create an audit record if the activity succeeds or fails. This method of auditing reduces the audit trail, helping you to focus on specific actions. This can aid in maintaining good database performance. Enter one of the following clauses:

    • WHENEVER SUCCESSFUL audits only successful executions of the user’s activity.

    • WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL audits only failed executions of the user’s activity. Monitoring unsuccessful SQL statement can expose users who are snooping or acting maliciously, though most unsuccessful SQL statements are neither.

    For example: 

    AUDIT POLICY role_connect_audit_pol WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL;

    If you omit this clause, then both failed and successful user activities are written to the audit trail.

Note the following:

  • The unified audit policy only can have either the BY, BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES, or the EXCEPT clause, but not more than one of these clauses for the same policy.

  • If you run multiple AUDIT statements on the same unified audit policy but specify different BY users or different BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES roles, then Oracle Database audits all of these users or roles.

  • If you run multiple AUDIT statements on the same unified audit policy but specify different EXCEPT users, then Oracle Database uses the last exception user list, not any of the users from the preceding lists. This means the effect of the earlier AUDIT POLICY ... EXCEPT statements are overridden by the latest AUDIT POLICY ... EXCEPT statement.

  • You cannot use the EXCEPT clause for roles. It applies to users only.

  • You can only enable common unified audit policies for common users or roles.

  • You can enable a common audit policy only from the root and a local audit policy only from the PDB to which it applies.

26.3.23.2 Enabling a Unified Audit Policy

The AUDIT POLICY statement can enable a unified audit policy.

  • Use the following syntax to enable a unified audit policy: 
    AUDIT POLICY { policy_auditing }
 [WHENEVER [NOT] SUCCESSFUL]

    In this specification:

    • policy_auditing refers to the following components:

      • The name of the unified audit policy. To find all existing policies, query the AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICIES data dictionary view. To find currently enabled policies, query AUDIT_UNIFIED_ENABLED_POLICIES.

      • Users or roles to whom the unified audit policy applies. To apply the policy to one or more users (including user SYS), enter the BY clause. For example: 

        BY psmith, rlee

        To apply the policy to one or more users to whom the list of roles are directly granted, use the BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES clause. For example: 

        BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES HS_ADMIN_ROLE, HS_ADMIN_SELECT_ROLE

      • Users to exclude from the unified audit policy. To exclude one or more users from the policy, enter the EXCEPT clause. For example: 

        EXCEPT psmith, rlee

        Mandatory audit records are captured in the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view for the AUDIT POLICY SQL statement. To find users who have been excluded in the audit records, you can query the EXCLUDED_USER column in the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view to list the excluded users.

      You cannot enable the same audit policy with the BY, BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES, and EXCEPT clauses in the same statement. This action throws an error for the subsequent AUDIT statement with the conflicting clause

    • WHENEVER [NOT] SUCCESSFUL enables the policy to generate audit records based on whether the user's actions failed or succeeded.

After you enable the unified audit policy and it is generating records, you can find the audit records by querying the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view.
26.3.23.3 Example: Enabling a Unified Audit Policy

The AUDIT POLICY statement can enable a unified audit policy using conditions, such as WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL.

Example 26-47 shows how to enable a unified audit policy to record only failed actions by the user dv_admin.

Example 26-47 Enabling a Unified Audit Policy

AUDIT POLICY dv_admin_pol BY tjones
 WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL;

26.3.24 Disabling Unified Audit Policies

You can use the NOAUDIT POLICY statement to disable a unified audit policy.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.24.1 About Disabling Unified Audit Policies

The NOAUDIT statement with the POLICY clause can disable a unified audit policy.

In the NOAUDIT statement, you can specify a BY user or BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES role list, but not an EXCEPT user list. The disablement of a unified audit policy takes effect on subsequent user sessions.

You can find a list of existing unified audit policies by querying the AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICIES data dictionary view.

You can disable a common audit policy only from the root and a local audit policy only from the PDB to which it applies.

26.3.24.2 Disabling a Unified Audit Policy

The NOAUDIT statement can disable a unified audit policy using supported audit options.

  • Use the following syntax to disable a unified audit policy: 
    NOAUDIT POLICY {policy_auditing | existing_audit_options};

    In this specification:

    • policy_auditing is the name of the policy. To find all currently enabled policies, query the AUDIT_UNIFIED_ENABLED_POLICIES data dictionary view. As part of this specification, you optionally can include the BY or BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES clause, but not the EXCEPT clause.

    • existing_audit_options refers to AUDIT options that were available in releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c release 1 (12.1), such as the following:

      • SELECT ANY TABLE, UPDATE ANY TABLE BY SCOTT, HR

      • UPDATE ON SCOTT.EMP

    If the unified policy had been applied to all users, then you only need to specify the policy name. For example:

    NOAUDIT POLICY logons_pol;
26.3.24.3 Example: Disabling a Unified Audit Policy

The NOAUDIT POLICY statement disable a unified audit policy using filtering, such as by user name.

Example 26-48 shows examples of how to disable a unified audit policy for a user and for a role.

Example 26-48 Disabling a Unified Audit Policy

NOAUDIT POLICY dv_admin_pol BY tjones;

NOAUDIT POLICY dv_admin_pol BY USERS WITH GRANTED ROLES emp_admin;

26.3.25 Dropping Unified Audit Policies

You can use the DROP AUDIT POLICY statement to drop a unified audit policy.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.25.1 About Dropping Unified Audit Policies

The DROP AUDIT POLICY statement can be used to unified audit policies.

If a unified audit policy is already enabled for a session, the effect of dropping the policy is not seen by this existing session. Until that time, the unified audit policy's settings remain in effect. For object-related unified audit policies, however, the effect is immediate.

You can find a list of existing unified audit policies by querying the AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICIES data dictionary view.

When you disable an audit policy before dropping it, ensure that you disable it using the same settings that you used to enable it. For example, suppose you enabled the logon_pol policy as follows: 

AUDIT POLICY logon_pol BY HR, OE;

Before you can drop it, your NOAUDIT statement must include the HR and OE users as follows: 

NOAUDIT POLICY logon_pol BY HR, OE;

You can drop a common audit policy only from the root and a local audit policy only from the PDB to which it applies.

26.3.25.2 Dropping a Unified Audit Policy

To drop a unified audit policy, you must first disable it, and then run the DROP AUDIT POLICY statement to remove it.

  • Use the following the following syntax to drop a unified audit policy: 

    DROP AUDIT POLICY policy_name;

The unified audit policy drop applies to the current PDB. If the unified audit policy was created as a common unified audit policy, then you cannot drop it from the local PDB.

26.3.25.3 Example: Disabling and Dropping a Unified Audit Policy

The NOAUDIT POLICY and DROP AUDIT POLICY statements can disable and drop a unified audit policy.

Example 26-49 shows how to disable and drop a common unified audit policy.

Example 26-49 Disabling and Dropping a Unified Audit Policy

CONNECT c##sec_admin
Enter password: password
Connected.

NOAUDIT POLICY dv_admin_pol;

DROP AUDIT POLICY dv_admin_pol

26.3.26 Tutorial: Auditing Nondatabase Users

This tutorial shows how to create a unified audit policy that uses a client identifier to audit a nondatabase user's actions.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement

26.3.26.1 Step 1: Create the User Accounts and Ensure the User OE Is Active

You must first create users and ensure that the user OE is active.

  1. Log in to a PDB as user SYS with the SYSDBA administrative privilege.
    sqlplus sys@pdb_name as sysdba
Enter password: password

    To find the available PDBs in a CDB, log in to the CDB root container and then query the PDB_NAME column of the DBA_PDBS data dictionary view. To check the current container, run the show con_name command.

  2. Create the local user policy_admin, who will create the fine-grained audit policy.
    CREATE USER policy_admin IDENTIFIED BY password;
GRANT CREATE SESSION, AUDIT_ADMIN TO policy_admin;

    Replace password with a password that is secure.

  3. Create the local user account auditor, who will check the audit trail for this policy. 
    CREATE USER policy_auditor IDENTIFIED BY password;
GRANT CREATE SESSION, AUDIT_VIEWER TO policy_auditor;
  4. The sample user OE will also be used in this tutorial, so query the DBA_USERS data dictionary view to ensure that OE is not locked or expired.
    SELECT USERNAME, ACCOUNT_STATUS FROM DBA_USERS WHERE USERNAME = 'OE';

    The account status should be OPEN. If the DBA_USERS view lists user OE as locked and expired, log in as user SYSTEM and then enter the following statement to unlock the OE account and create a new password: 

    ALTER USER OE ACCOUNT UNLOCK IDENTIFIED BY password;

    Replace password with a password that is secure. For greater security, do not give the OE account the same password from previous releases of Oracle Database.

26.3.26.2 Step 2: Create the Unified Audit Policy

Next, you are ready to create the unified audit policy.

  1. Connect to the PDB as user policy_admin. 
    CONNECT policy_admin@pdb_name
Enter password: password
  2. Create the following policy:
    CREATE AUDIT POLICY orders_unified_audpol 
  ACTIONS INSERT ON OE.ORDERS, UPDATE ON OE.ORDERS, DELETE ON OE.ORDERS, SELECT ON OE.ORDERS
  WHEN 'SYS_CONTEXT(''USERENV'', ''CLIENT_IDENTIFIER'') = ''robert''' 
    EVALUATE PER STATEMENT;

AUDIT POLICY orders_unified_audpol;

    In this example, the AUDIT_CONDITION parameter assumes that the nondatabase user is named robert. The policy will monitor any INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and SELECT statements that robert will attempt. Remember that the user's CLIENT_IDENTITIFER setting that you enter in the policy is case sensitive and that the policy only recognizes the case used for the identity that you specify here. In other words, later on, if the user session is set to Robert or ROBERT, the policy's condition will not be satisfied.

26.3.26.3 Step 3: Test the Policy

To test the policy, use OE must try to select from the OE.ORDERS table.

A unified auditing policy takes effect in the next user session for the users who are being audited. So, before their audit records can be captured, the users must connect to the database after the policy has been created.
  1. Connect as user OE and then select from the OE.ORDERS table. 
    CONNECT OE@pdb_name
Enter password: password

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ORDERS;

    The following output appears:

      COUNT(*)
----------
       105
  2. Connect as user policy_auditor and then check if any audit records were generated.
    CONNECT policy_auditor@pdb_name
Enter password: password

col dbusername format a10
col client_identifier format a20
col sql_text format a29

SELECT DBUSERNAME, CLIENT_IDENTIFIER, SQL_TEXT FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
 WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%FROM ORDERS%';

    The following output appears:

    no rows selected
  3. Reconnect as user OE, set the client identifier to robert, and then reselect from the OE.ORDERS table. 
    CONNECT OE@pdb_name
Enter password: password

EXEC DBMS_SESSION.SET_IDENTIFIER('robert');

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ORDERS;

    The following output should appear:

      COUNT(*)
----------
       105
  4. Reconnect as user auditor and then check the audit trail again.
    CONNECT policy_auditor@pdb_name
Enter password: password

SELECT DBUSERNAME, CLIENT_IDENTIFIER, SQL_TEXT FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
 WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%FROM ORDERS%';

    This time, because robert has queried the OE.ORDERS table, the audit trail captures their actions: 

    DBUSERNAME CLIENT_IDENTIFIER SQL_TEXT
---------- ----------------- ----------------------------
OE         robert            SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ORDERS;
26.3.26.4 Step 4: Remove the Components of This Tutorial

If you no longer need the components of this tutorial, then you can remove them.

  1. Connect as user policy_admin, and then manually disable and drop the orders_unified_audpol policy. 
    CONNECT policy_admin@pdb_name
Enter password: password

NOAUDIT POLICY orders_unified_audpol;
DROP AUDIT policy orders_unified_audpol;

    (Unified audit policies reside in the SYS schema, not the schema of the user who created them.)

  2. Connect to SQL*Plus as user SYSTEM. 
    CONNECT SYSTEM@pdb_name
Enter password: password
  3. Drop users policy_admin and policy_auditor. 
    DROP USER policy_admin;
DROP USER policy_auditor;
  4. If you want, lock and expire OE, unless other users want to use this account:
    ALTER USER OE PASSWORD EXPIRE ACCOUNT LOCK;

26.4 Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

Oracle Database provides predefined unified audit policies that cover commonly used security-relevant audit settings.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Configuring Audit Policies

26.4.1 Logon Failures Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_LOGON_FAILURES unified audit policy tracks failed logons only, but not any other kinds of logons.

For new databases, this policy is enabled by default for both pure unified auditing and mixed-mode auditing environments. This policy is not enabled for databases that were upgraded from earlier versions, except if you have created a new database from the previous release and then upgrade it to the current release.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement shows the ORA_LOGON_FAILURES unified audit policy definition: 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_LOGON_FAILURES ACTIONS LOGON;

You should enable the ORA_LOGON_FAILURES unified audit policy as follows: 

AUDIT POLICY ORA_LOGON_FAILURES WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL;

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

26.4.2 Secure Options Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_SECURECONFIG unified audit policy provides all the secure configuration audit options.

For new databases, this policy is enabled by default for both pure unified auditing and mixed-mode auditing environments. This policy is not enabled for databases that were upgraded from earlier versions, except if you have created a new database from the previous release and then upgrade it to the current release.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement shows the ORA_SECURECONFIG unified audit policy definition. 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_SECURECONFIG
 PRIVILEGES ALTER ANY TABLE, CREATE ANY TABLE, DROP ANY TABLE,
            CREATE ANY PROCEDURE, DROP ANY PROCEDURE, ALTER ANY PROCEDURE,
            GRANT ANY PRIVILEGE, GRANT ANY OBJECT PRIVILEGE, GRANT ANY ROLE,
            AUDIT SYSTEM, CREATE EXTERNAL JOB, CREATE ANY JOB,
            CREATE ANY LIBRARY,
            EXEMPT ACCESS POLICY,
            CREATE USER, DROP USER,
            ALTER DATABASE, ALTER SYSTEM,
            CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM, DROP PUBLIC SYNONYM,
            CREATE SQL TRANSLATION PROFILE, CREATE ANY SQL TRANSLATION
PROFILE,
            DROP ANY SQL TRANSLATION PROFILE, ALTER ANY SQL TRANSLATION
PROFILE,
            TRANSLATE ANY SQL,
            EXEMPT REDACTION POLICY,  
            PURGE DBA_RECYCLEBIN, LOGMINING,
            ADMINISTER KEY MANAGEMENT, BECOME USER
 ACTIONS    ALTER USER, CREATE ROLE, ALTER ROLE, DROP ROLE,
            SET ROLE, CREATE PROFILE, ALTER PROFILE,
            DROP PROFILE, CREATE DATABASE LINK,
            ALTER DATABASE LINK, DROP DATABASE LINK,
            CREATE DIRECTORY, DROP DIRECTORY,
            CREATE PLUGGABLE DATABASE,  
            DROP PLUGGABLE DATABASE,
            ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE,
            EXECUTE ON DBMS_RLS,
            ALTER DATABASE DICTIONARY;

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

26.4.3 Oracle Database Parameter Changes Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_DATABASE_PARAMETER policy audits commonly used Oracle Database parameter settings.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement shows the ORA_DATABASE_PARAMETER unified audit policy definition. By default, this policy is not enabled. 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_DATABASE_PARAMETER
 ACTIONS ALTER DATABASE, ALTER SYSTEM, CREATE SPFILE;

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

26.4.4 User Account and Privilege Management Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_ACCOUNT_MGMT policy audits commonly used user account and privilege settings.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement shows the ORA_ACCOUNT_MGMT unified audit policy definition. By default, this policy is not enabled. 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_ACCOUNT_MGMT
 ACTIONS CREATE USER, ALTER USER, DROP USER, CREATE ROLE, DROP ROLE,
  ALTER ROLE, SET ROLE, GRANT, REVOKE;

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

26.4.5 Center for Internet Security Recommendations Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_CIS_RECOMMENDATIONS policy performs audits that the Center for Internet Security (CIS) recommends.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement shows the ORA_CIS_RECOMMENDATIONS unified audit policy definition. By default, this policy is not enabled. 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_CIS_RECOMMENDATIONS
PRIVILEGES SELECT ANY DICTIONARY, ALTER SYSTEM
ACTIONS CREATE USER, ALTER USER, DROP USER,
        CREATE ROLE, DROP ROLE, ALTER ROLE,
        GRANT, REVOKE, CREATE DATABASE LINK,
        ALTER DATABASE LINK, DROP DATABASE LINK,
        CREATE PROFILE, ALTER PROFILE, DROP PROFILE,
        CREATE SYNONYM, DROP SYNONYM,
        CREATE PROCEDURE, DROP PROCEDURE,
        ALTER PROCEDURE, ALTER SYNONYM, CREATE FUNCTION,
        CREATE PACKAGE, CREATE PACKAGE BODY,
        ALTER FUNCTION, ALTER PACKAGE, ALTER SYSTEM,
        ALTER PACKAGE BODY, DROP FUNCTION,
        DROP PACKAGE, DROP PACKAGE BODY,
        CREATE TRIGGER, ALTER TRIGGER,
        DROP TRIGGER;

Related Topics

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

26.4.6 Security Technical Implementation Guide Predefined Unified Audit Policies

You can use predefined unified audit policies to implement Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) audit requirements.

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

26.4.6.1 STIG Recommendations Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_STIG_RECOMMENDATIONS policy performs audits that the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) recommends.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement shows the ORA_STIG_RECOMMENDATIONS unified audit policy definition. By default, this policy is not enabled. 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_STIG_RECOMMENDATIONS
PRIVILEGES ALTER SESSION
ACTIONS CREATE FUNCTION, ALTER FUNCTION, DROP FUNCTION,
	CREATE PACKAGE, ALTER PACKAGE, DROP PACKAGE,
	CREATE PROCEDURE, ALTER PROCEDURE, DROP PROCEDURE,
	CREATE TRIGGER, ALTER TRIGGER, DROP TRIGGER,
	CREATE PACKAGE BODY, ALTER PACKAGE BODY,
	DROP PACKAGE BODY,
	CREATE TYPE, ALTER TYPE, DROP TYPE,
	CREATE TYPE BODY, ALTER TYPE BODY, DROP TYPE BODY,
	CREATE LIBRARY, ALTER LIBRARY, DROP LIBRARY,
	CREATE JAVA, ALTER JAVA, DROP JAVA,
	CREATE OPERATOR, ALTER OPERATOR, DROP OPERATOR,
	CREATE TABLE, ALTER TABLE, DROP TABLE,
	CREATE VIEW, ALTER VIEW, DROP VIEW,
	CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW, ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW,
	DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW,
	CREATE ASSEMBLY, ALTER ASSEMBLY, DROP ASSEMBLY,
	CREATE SYNONYM, ALTER SYNONYM, DROP SYNONYM,
	CREATE USER, ALTER USER, DROP USER,
	GRANT, REVOKE,
	CREATE ROLE, ALTER ROLE, DROP ROLE, SET ROLE,
	CREATE PROFILE, ALTER PROFILE, DROP PROFILE,
	CREATE LOCKDOWN PROFILE, ALTER LOCKDOWN PROFILE,
	DROP LOCKDOWN PROFILE,
	ALTER SYSTEM, ALTER DATABASE, ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE,
	CREATE SPFILE, ALTER DATABASE DICTIONARY,
	ADMINISTER KEY MANAGEMENT,
	EXECUTE ON DBMS_JOB, EXECUTE ON DBMS_RLS,
	EXECUTE ON DBMS_REDACT, EXECUTE ON DBMS_TSDP_MANAGE,
	EXECUTE ON DBMS_TSDP_PROTECT,
	EXECUTE ON DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN,
	EXECUTE ON DBMS_SCHEDULER
ACTIONS COMPONENT = OLS ALL';

For STIG compliance, enable the ORA_STIG_RECOMMENDATIONS unified audit policy for all users. 

AUDIT POLICY ORA_STIG_RECOMMENDATIONS;
26.4.6.2 All Top Level Actions Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_ALL_TOPLEVEL_ACTIONS policy performs audits of all top level actions of privileged users.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement shows the ORA_ALL_TOPLEVEL_ACTIONS unified audit policy definition. By default, this policy is not enabled. 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_ALL_TOPLEVEL_ACTIONS
        ACTIONS ALL ONLY TOPLEVEL;

For STIG compliance, enable the ORA_ALL_TOPLEVEL_ACTIONS unified audit policy for all Oracle-defined and site specific privileged users. For example, the following statement audits the Oracle-defined privileged user SYS and site defined privileged user SITEADMIN: 

AUDIT POLICY ORA_ALL_TOPLEVEL_ACTIONS BY SYS, SITEADMIN;
26.4.6.3 Logon and Logoff Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_LOGON_LOGOFF policy tracks logon and logoff operations.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

This policy is required for both the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and Security for Technical Implementation Guides (STIG) requirements.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement shows the ORA_LOGON_LOGOFF unified audit policy definition. By default, this policy is not enabled. 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_LOGON_LOGOFF
        ACTIONS LOGON, LOGOFF;

For CIS and STIG compliance, enable the ORA_LOGON_LOGOFF unified audit policy for all users. 

AUDIT POLICY ORA_LOGON_LOGOFF;

26.4.7 Oracle Database Real Application Security Predefined Audit Policies

You can use predefined unified audit policies for Oracle Database Real Application Security events.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

26.4.7.1 System Administrator Operations Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_RAS_POLICY_MGMT predefined unified audit policy audits policies for all Oracle Real Application Security administrative actions on application users, roles, and policies.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement describes the ORA_RAS_POLICY_MGMT audit policy. By default, this policy is not enabled. 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_RAS_POLICY_MGMT
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=XS
  CREATE USER, UPDATE USER, DELETE USER, 
  CREATE ROLE, UPDATE ROLE, DELETE ROLE, GRANT ROLE, REVOKE ROLE, 
  ADD PROXY, REMOVE PROXY, 
  SET USER PASSWORD, SET USER VERIFIER, SET USER PROFILE,
  CREATE ROLESET, UPDATE ROLESET, DELETE ROLESET,
  CREATE SECURITY CLASS, UPDATE SECURITY CLASS, DELETE SECURITY CLASS, 
  CREATE NAMESPACE TEMPLATE, UPDATE NAMESPACE TEMPLATE, DELETE NAMESPACE TEMPLATE,
  CREATE ACL, UPDATE ACL, DELETE ACL, 
  CREATE DATA SECURITY, UPDATE DATA SECURITY, DELETE DATA SECURITY, 
  ENABLE DATA SECURITY, DISABLE DATA SECURITY, 
  ADD GLOBAL CALLBACK, DELETE GLOBAL CALLBACK, ENABLE GLOBAL CALLBACK;

For STIG compliance, enable the ORA_RAS_POLICY_MGMT unified audit policy for all users. 

AUDIT POLICY ORA_RAS_POLICY_MGMT;
26.4.7.2 Session Operations Predefined Unified Audit Policy

The ORA_RAS_SESSION_MGMT predefined unified audit policy audits policies for all run-time Oracle Real Application Security session actions and namespace actions.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

The following CREATE AUDIT POLICY statement describes the ORA_RAS_SESSION_MGMT policy. By default, this policy is not enabled. 

CREATE AUDIT POLICY ORA_RAS_SESSION_MGMT
 ACTIONS COMPONENT=XS 
  CREATE SESSION, DESTROY SESSION, 
  ENABLE ROLE, DISABLE ROLE, 
  SET COOKIE, SET INACTIVE TIMEOUT, 
  SWITCH USER, ASSIGN USER,
  CREATE SESSION NAMESPACE, DELETE SESSION NAMESPACE,
  CREATE NAMESPACE ATTRIBUTE, GET NAMESPACE ATTRIBUTE, SET NAMESPACE ATTRIBUTE,
  DELETE NAMESPACE ATTRIBUTE;

For STIG compliance, enable the ORA_RAS_SESSION_MGMT for failed operations. 

AUDIT POLICY ORA_RAS_SESSION_MGMT WHENEVER NOT SUCCESSFUL;

26.4.8 Oracle Database Vault Predefined Unified Audit Policy for DVSYS and LBACSYS Schemas

The ORA_DV_AUDPOL predefined unified audit policy audits Oracle Database Vault DVSYS and LBACSYS schema objects.

The ORA_DV_AUDPOL policy audits all actions that are performed on the Oracle Database Vault DVSYS (including DVF) schema objects and the Oracle Label Security LBACSYS schema objects. It does not capture actions on the F$* factor functions in the DVF schema. By default, this policy is not enabled.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

To view the complete definition of this policy, query the AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICIES data dictionary view, where policy_name is ORA_DV_AUDPOL.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

26.4.9 Oracle Database Vault Predefined Unified Audit Policy for Default Realms and Command Rules

The ORA_DV_AUDPOL2 predefined unified audit policy audits the Oracle Database Vault default realms and command rules.

The ORA_DV_AUDPOL2 policy constitutes the audit settings of the Oracle Database Vault-supplied default realms and command rules. By default, this policy is not enabled.

Note:

Only user SYS can alter or drop this predefined policy.

To view the complete definition of this policy, query the AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICIES data dictionary view, where policy_name is ORA_DV_AUDPOL2.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Auditing Activities with the Predefined Unified Audit Policies

26.5 Auditing Specific Activities with Fine-Grained Auditing

Fine-grained auditing enables you to create audit policies at the granular level.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Configuring Audit Policies

26.5.1 About Fine-Grained Auditing

Fine-grained auditing enables you to create policies that define specific conditions that must take place for the audit to occur.

You cannot create unified audit policies using fine-grained auditing but you can use fine-grained auditing to create very customized audit settings, such as auditing the times that data is accessed.

This enables you to monitor data access based on content. It provides granular auditing of queries, and INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations. You can use fine-grained auditing to audit the following types of actions:

  • Accessing a table between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. or on Saturday and Sunday

  • Using an IP address from outside the corporate network

  • Selecting or updating a table column

  • Modifying a value in a table column

In general, fine-grained audit policies are based on simple, user-defined SQL predicates on table objects as conditions for selective auditing. During fetching, whenever policy conditions are met for a row, the query is audited.

Unified audit policies can perform most of the operations that fine-grained audit policies can perform, except for the following actions:

  • Auditing specific columns. You can audit specific relevant columns that hold sensitive information, such as salaries or Social Security numbers.

  • Using event handlers. For example, you can write a function that sends an email alert to a security administrator when an audited column that should not be changed at midnight is updated.

Fine-grained auditing has the following advantages over unified auditing:

  • It enables you to perform row value-based auditing. For example, you can audit updates to a salary column when the updated value is higher than a specified threshold, but not otherwise.
  • You can use fine-grained auditing event handlers to proactively notify administrators or other users of specific events.
  • During a bulk data processing operation using BULK COLLECT and FORALL in PL/SQL to execute the same DML statement repeatedly for different bind variables, fine-grained auditing can capture the repeatedly executed statement with the appropriate bind variable values.

Note:

  • Fine-grained auditing is supported only with cost-based optimization. For queries using rule-based optimization, fine-grained auditing checks before applying row filtering, which could result in an unnecessary audit event trigger.

  • Policies currently in force on an object involved in a flashback query are applied to the data returned from the specified flashback snapshot based on time or system change number (SCN).

  • If you want to use fine-grained auditing to audit data that is being directly loaded (for example, using Oracle Warehouse Builder to execute DML statements), then Oracle Database transparently makes all direct loads that are performed in the database instance into conventional loads. If you want to preserve the direct loading of data, consider using unified audit policies instead.

Parent topic: Auditing Specific Activities with Fine-Grained Auditing

26.5.2 Where Are Fine-Grained Audit Records Stored?

Fine-grained auditing records are stored in the AUDSYS schema.

These audit records are stored in the SYSAUX tablespace by default. You can supply a new tablespace by using the DBMS_AUDIT_MGMT.SET_AUDIT_TRAIL_LOCATION procedure. This tablespace can be an encrypted tablespace. To find the records have been generated for the audit policies that are in effect, you can query UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view.

The audit trail captures an audit record for each reference of a table or a view within a SQL statement. For example, if you run a UNION statement that references the HR.EMPLOYEES table twice, then an audit policy for statement generates two audit records, one for each access of the HR.EMPLOYEES table.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Auditing Specific Activities with Fine-Grained Auditing

26.5.3 Who Can Perform Fine-Grained Auditing?

Oracle provides roles for privileges needed to create fine-grained audit policies and to view and analyze fine-grained audit policy data.

The fine-grained audit privileges are as follows:

  • To create fine-grained audit policies, you must be granted d the AUDIT_ADMIN role or the EXECUTE privilege on the DBMS_FGA package.

  • To view and analyze fine-grained audit data, you must be granted the AUDIT_VIEWER role.

The PL/SQL package is already granted to AUDIT_ADMIN role. As with all privileges, grant these roles to trusted users only. You can find the roles that user have been granted by querying the DBA_ROLE_PRIVS data dictionary view.

Parent topic: Auditing Specific Activities with Fine-Grained Auditing

26.5.4 Fine-Grained Auditing on Tables or Views That Have Oracle VPD Policies

The audit trail captures the VPD predicate for fine-grained audited tables or views that are included in an Oracle VPD policy.

This behavior is similar to how the unified audit trail captures the VPD predicate for unified audit policies.

The audit trail also captures internal predicates from Oracle Label Security and Oracle Real Application Security policies.

You do not need to create a special audit policy to capture the VPD predicate audit records. The predicate information is automatically stored in the RLS_INFO column of the DBA_FGA_AUDIT_TRAIL and UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary views.

If there are multiple VPD policies applied to the same table or view, then by default the predicates for these policies are concatenated in the RLS_INFO column. You can reformat the output so that each predicate is in its own row (identified by its corresponding VPD policy name and other information) by using the functions in the DBMS_AUDIT_UTIL PL/SQL package.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Auditing Specific Activities with Fine-Grained Auditing

26.5.5 Fine-Grained Auditing in a Multitenant Environment

You can create fine-grained audit policies in the CDB root, application root, CDB PDBs, and application PDBs.

Note the following general rules about fine-grained audit policies:

  • You cannot create fine-grained audit policies on SYS objects.

  • You cannot create fine-grained audit policies, either local or application common, for extended data link objects.

  • When you create a fine-grained audit policy in the CDB root, the policy cannot be applied to all PDBs. It only applies to objects within the CDB root. (In other words, there is no such thing as a common fine-grained audit policy for the CDB root.) If you want to create a fine-grained audit policy to audit a common object’s access in all the PDBs, then you must explicitly create that policy in each PDB and then enable it on the common objects that is accessible in the PDB.

  • When you create a fine-grained audit policy in a PDB, it applies only to objects within the PDB.

  • You can create application common fine-grained audit policies only if you are connected to the application root and only within the BEGIN/END block. If you are connected to the application root and create the fine-grained audit policy outside the BEGIN/END block, then the fine-grained audit policy is created in the application root.

  • You cannot create application common fine-grained audit policies on local PDB objects.

  • If the application common fine-grained audit policy has a handler, then this handler must be owned by either an application common user or a CDB common user.

  • You can create an application fine-grained audit policy on local (PDB) objects and CDB common objects. Because the policy is local to its container, the object on which the policy is defined is audited only in the particular container where the policy is defined. For example, if you create a fine-grained audit policy in the hr_pdb PDB, the object for which you create this policy must exist in the hr_pdb PDB.

  • You cannot create local fine-grained audit policies in an application PDB on object linked and extended data link objects. On metadata-linked objects are allowed in the fine-grained audit policy.

  • Application root local policies are allowed for all application common objects.

  • When you create a fine-grained audit policy as a common audit policy in an application root, it will be effective in each PDB that belongs to this application root. Therefore, any access to the application common object and CDB common object (on which the application common fine-grained audit policy is defined) from the application PDB is audited in the fine-grained audit trail in that application PDB.

  • When you create scripts for application install, upgrade, patch, or uninstall operations, you can include SQL statements within the ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE app_name BEGIN INSTALL and ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE app_name END INSTALL blocks to perform various operations. You can include fine-grained audit policy statements only within these blocks.

  • You can only enable, disable, or drop application common fine-grained audit policies from the application root, and from within a ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE app_name BEGIN INSTALL and ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE app_name END INSTALL block in a script.

Parent topic: Auditing Specific Activities with Fine-Grained Auditing

26.5.6 Fine-Grained Audit Policies with Editions

You can prepare an application for edition-based redefinition, and cover each table that the application uses with an editioning view.

If you do this, then you must move the fine-grained audit polices that protect these tables to the editioning view. You can find information about the currently configured editions by querying the DBA_EDITIONS data dictionary view. To find information about fine-grained audit policies, query DBA_AUDIT_POLICIES.

Parent topic: Auditing Specific Activities with Fine-Grained Auditing

26.5.7 Using the DBMS_FGA PL/SQL Package to Manage Fine-Grained Audit Policies

The DBMS_FGA PL/SQL package manages fine-grained audit policies.

Parent topic: Auditing Specific Activities with Fine-Grained Auditing

26.5.7.1 About the DBMS_FGA PL/SQL PL/SQL Package

The DBMS_FGA PL/SQL package can be used to combine statements into one policy and perform other fine-grained auditing management tasks.

However, unless you want to perform column-level auditing or use event handlers with your audit policy, you should create audit policies as described in Auditing Activities with Unified Audit Policies and the AUDIT Statement.

The DBMS_FGA PL/SQL package enables you to add all combinations of SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements to one policy. You also can audit MERGE statements, by auditing the underlying actions of INSERT and UPDATE. To audit MERGE statements, configure fine-grained access on the INSERT and UPDATE statements. Only one record is generated for each policy for successful MERGE operations.

To administer fine-grained audit policies, you must have be granted the AUDIT_ADMIN role. Note also that the EXECUTE privilege for the DBMS_FGA package is mandatorily audited.

The audit policy is bound to the table for which you created it. This simplifies the management of audit policies because the policy only needs to be changed once in the database, not in each application. In addition, no matter how a user connects to the database—from an application, a Web interface, or through SQL*Plus or Oracle SQL Developer—Oracle Database records any actions that affect the policy.

If any rows returned from a query match the audit condition that you define, then Oracle Database inserts an audit entry into the fine-grained audit trail. This entry excludes all the information that is reported in the regular audit trail. In other words, only one row of audit information is inserted into the audit trail for every fine-grained audit policy that evaluates to true.

26.5.7.2 The DBMS_FGA PL/SQL Package with Editions

You can create DBMS_FGA policies for use in an editions environment.

If you plan to use the DBMS_FGA package policy across different editions, then you can control the results of the policy: whether the results are uniform across all editions, or specific to the edition in which the policy is used.

26.5.7.3 The DBMS_FGA PL/SQL Package in a Multitenant Environment

The DBMS_FGA PL/SQL package applies only to the current local PDBs.

You cannot create one policy for the entire multitenant environment. The policy must be specific to objects within a PDB. To find PDBs, you can query the DBA_PDBS data dictionary view. To find the name of the current PDB, issue the show con_name command.

26.5.7.4 Creating a Fine-Grained Audit Policy

The DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY procedure creates a fine-grained audit policy.

Parent topic: Using the DBMS_FGA PL/SQL Package to Manage Fine-Grained Audit Policies

26.5.7.4.1 About Creating a Fine-Grained Audit Policy

The DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY procedure creates an audit policy using the supplied predicate as the audit condition.

By default, Oracle Database executes the policy predicate with the privileges of the user who owns the policy. The maximum number of fine-grained policies on any table or view object is 256. Oracle Database stores the policy in the data dictionary table, but you can create the policy on any table or view that is not in the SYS schema. The fine grained policy is only created in the local PDB.

If you plan to create a materialized view on the the base table on which you want to create a fine-grained audit policy, then you must create the fine-grained audit policy on the base table before you create the materialized view on the same table. Otherwise, any refresh operations on the materialized view will fail with an ORA-12008: error in materialized view refresh path error.

You cannot modify a fine-grained audit policy after you have created it. If you must modify the policy, then drop and recreate it.

You can find information about a fine-grained audit policy by querying the ALL_AUDIT_POLICIES, DBA_AUDIT_POLICIES, and USER_AUDIT_POLICIES views. The UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view contains a column entitled FGA_POLICY_NAME, which you can use to filter out rows that were generated using a specific fine-grained audit policy.

26.5.7.4.2 Syntax for Creating a Fine-Grained Audit Policy

The DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY procedure includes many settings, such as the ability to use a handler for complex auditing.

The DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY procedure syntax is as follows: 

DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY(
   object_schema      IN  VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL 
   object_name        IN  VARCHAR2,
   policy_name        IN  VARCHAR2, 
   audit_condition    IN  VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL, 
   audit_column       IN  VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL 
   handler_schema     IN  VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL, 
   handler_module     IN  VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL, 
   enable             IN  BOOLEAN DEFAULT TRUE, 
   statement_types    IN  VARCHAR2 DEFAULT SELECT,
   audit_trail        IN  BINARY_INTEGER DEFAULT NULL, 
   audit_column_opts  IN  BINARY_INTEGER DEFAULT ANY_COLUMNS, 
   policy_owner       IN  VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL);

In this specification:

  • object_schema specifies the schema of the object to be audited. (If NULL, the current log-on user schema is assumed.)

  • object_name specifies the name of the object to be audited.

  • policy_name specifies the name of the policy to be created. Ensure that this name is unique.

  • audit_condition specifies a Boolean condition in a row. NULL is allowed and acts as TRUE. If you specify NULL or no audit condition, then any action on a table with that policy creates an audit record, whether or not rows are returned.

    Follow these guidelines:

    • Do not include functions, which execute the auditable statement on the same base table, in the audit_condition setting. For example, suppose you create a function that executes an INSERT statement on the HR.EMPLOYEES table. The policy's audit_condition contains this function and it is for INSERT statements (as set by statement_types). When the policy is used, the function executes recursively until the system has run out of memory. This can raise the error ORA-1000: maximum open cursors exceeded or ORA-00036: maximum number of recursive SQL levels (50) exceeded.

    • Do not issue the DBMS_FGA.ENABLE_POLICY or DBMS_FGA.DISABLE_POLICY statement from a function in a policy's condition.

  • audit_column specifies one or more columns to audit, including hidden columns. If set to NULL or omitted, all columns are audited. These can include Oracle Label Security hidden columns or object type columns. The default, NULL, causes audit if any column is accessed or affected.

  • handler_schema: If an alert is used to trigger a response when the policy is violated, specifies the name of the schema that contains the event handler. The default, NULL, uses the current schema.

  • handler_module specifies the name of the event handler. Include the package the event handler is in. This function is invoked only after the first row that matches the audit condition in the query is processed.

    Follow these guidelines:

    • Do not create recursive fine-grained audit handlers. For example, suppose you create a handler that executes an INSERT statement on the HR.EMPLOYEES table. The policy that is associated with this handler is for INSERT statements (as set by the statement_types parameter). When the policy is used, the handler executes recursively until the system has run out of memory. This can raise the error ORA-1000: maximum open cursors exceeded or ORA-00036: maximum number of recursive SQL levels (50) exceeded.

    • Do not issue the DBMS_FGA.ENABLE_POLICY or DBMS_FGA.DISABLE_POLICY statement from a policy handler. Doing so can raise the ORA-28144: Failed to execute fine-grained audit handler error.

  • enable enables or disables the policy using true or false. If omitted, the policy is enabled. The default is TRUE.

  • statement_types: Specifies the SQL statements to be audited: INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, or SELECT only. If you want to audit a MERGE operation, then set statement_types to 'INSERT,UPDATE'. The default is SELECT.

  • audit_trail: If you have migrated to unified auditing, then Oracle Database ignores this parameter and writes the audit records immediately to the unified audit trail. If you have migrated to unified auditing, then omit this parameter.

    Be aware that sensitive data, such as credit card information, can be recorded in clear text.

  • audit_column_opts: If you specify more than one column in the audit_column parameter, then this parameter determines whether to audit all or specific columns.

  • policy_owner is the user who owns the fine-grained auditing policy. However, this setting is not a user-supplied argument. The Oracle Data Pump client uses this setting internally to recreate the fine-grained audit policies appropriately.

26.5.7.4.3 Audits of Specific Columns and Rows

You can fine-tune audit behavior by targeting a specific column (relevant column) to be audited if a condition is met.

To accomplish this, you use the audit_column parameter to specify one or more sensitive columns. In addition, you can audit data in specific rows by using the audit_condition parameter to define a Boolean condition. (However, if your policy needs only to audit for conditions, consider using an audit policy condition.)

The following settings enable you to perform an audit if anyone in Department 50 (DEPARTMENT_ID = 50) tries to access the SALARY and COMMISSION_PCT columns. 

audit_condition    => 'DEPARTMENT_ID = 50', 
audit_column       => 'SALARY,COMMISSION_PCT,'

As you can see, this feature is enormously beneficial. It not only enables you to pinpoint particularly important types of data to audit, but it provides increased protection for columns that contain sensitive data, such as Social Security numbers, salaries, patient diagnoses, and so on.

If the audit_column lists more than one column, then you can use the audit_column_opts parameter to specify whether a statement is audited when the query references any column specified in the audit_column parameter or only when all columns are referenced. For example: 

audit_column_opts   => DBMS_FGA.ANY_COLUMNS,

audit_column_opts   => DBMS_FGA.ALL_COLUMNS,

If you do not specify a relevant column, then auditing applies to all columns.

26.5.7.5 Example: Using DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY to Create a Fine-Grained Audit Policy

The DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY procedure can create a fine-grained audit policy using multiple statement types.

Example 26-50 shows how to audit statements INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and SELECT on table HR.EMPLOYEES.

Note that this example omits the audit_column_opts parameter, because it is not a mandatory parameter.

Example 26-50 Using DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY to Create a Fine-Grained Audit Policy

BEGIN
  DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY(
   object_schema      => 'HR',
   object_name        => 'EMPLOYEES',
   policy_name        => 'chk_hr_employees',
   audit_column       => 'SALARY',
   enable             =>  TRUE,
   statement_types    => 'INSERT, UPDATE, SELECT, DELETE');
END;
/

After you create the policy, if you query the DBA_AUDIT_POLICIES view, you will find the new policy listed: 

SELECT POLICY_NAME FROM DBA_AUDIT_POLICIES;

POLICY_NAME
-------------------------------
CHK_HR_EMPLOYEES

Afterwards, any of the following SQL statements log an audit event record. 

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM HR.EMPLOYEES WHERE COMMISSION_PCT = 20 AND SALARY > 4500;

SELECT SALARY FROM HR.EMPLOYEES WHERE DEPARTMENT_ID = 50;

DELETE FROM HR.EMPLOYEES WHERE SALARY > 1000000;
26.5.7.6 Enabling a Fine-Grained Audit Policy

The DBMS_FGA.ENABLE_POLICY procedure enables a fine-grained audit policy.

  • Use the following syntax to enable a fine-grained audit policy:
    DBMS_FGA.ENABLE_POLICY(
   object_schema  VARCHAR2, 
   object_name    VARCHAR2, 
   policy_name    VARCHAR2,
   enable         BOOLEAN);

    For example, to reenable the chk_hr_emp policy by using the DBMS_FGA.ENABLE_POLICY procedure 

    BEGIN
 DBMS_FGA.ENABLE_POLICY(
  object_schema        => 'HR',
  object_name          => 'EMPLOYEES',
  policy_name          => 'chk_hr_employees',
  enable               => TRUE);
END;
/
26.5.7.7 Disabling a Fine-Grained Audit Policy

The DBMS_FGA.DISABLE_POLICY procedure disables a fine-grained audit policy.

  • Use the following syntax to disable a fine-grained audit policy:
    DBMS_FGA.DISABLE_POLICY(
   object_schema  VARCHAR2, 
   object_name    VARCHAR2, 
   policy_name    VARCHAR2);

    For example: 

    BEGIN
 DBMS_FGA.DISABLE_POLICY(
  object_schema        => 'HR',
  object_name          => 'EMPLOYEES',
  policy_name          => 'chk_hr_employees');
END;
/
26.5.7.8 Dropping a Fine-Grained Audit Policy

The DBMS_FGA.DROP_POLICY procedure drops a fine-grained audit policy.

Oracle Database automatically drops the audit policy if you remove the object specified in the object_name parameter of the DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY procedure, or if you drop the user who created the audit policy.
  • Use the following syntax to drop a fine-grained audit policy:
    DBMS_FGA.DROP_POLICY(
   object_schema  VARCHAR2, 
   object_name    VARCHAR2, 
   policy_name    IVARCHAR2);

    For example:

    BEGIN
 DBMS_FGA.DROP_POLICY(
  object_schema      => 'HR',
  object_name        => 'EMPLOYEES',
  policy_name        => 'chk_hr_employees');
END;
/

26.5.8 Tutorial: Adding an Email Alert to a Fine-Grained Audit Policy

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a fine-grained audit policy that generates an email alert when users violate the policy.

Parent topic: Auditing Specific Activities with Fine-Grained Auditing

26.5.8.1 About This Tutorial

This tutorial shows how you can add an email alert to a fine-grained audit policy that goes into effect when a user (or an intruder) violates the policy.

Note:

  • To complete this tutorial, you must use a database that has an SMTP server.

  • This tutorial applies to the current PDB only.

To add an email alert to a fine-grained audit policy, you first must create a procedure that generates the alert, and then use the following DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY parameters to call this function when someone violates this policy:

  • handler_schema: The schema in which the handler event is stored

  • handler_module: The name of the event handler

The alert can come in any form that best suits your environment: an email or pager notification, updates to a particular file or table, and so on. Creating alerts also helps to meet certain compliance regulations, such as California Senate Bill 1386. In this tutorial, you will create an email alert.

In this tutorial, you create an email alert that notifies a security administrator that a Human Resources representative is trying to select or modify salary information in the HR.EMPLOYEES table. The representative is permitted to make changes to this table, but to meet compliance regulations, we want to create a record of all salary selections and modifications to the table.

26.5.8.2 Step 1: Install and Configure the UTL_MAIL PL/SQL Package

The UTL_MAIL PL/SQL manages email that includes commonly used email features, such as attachments, CC, and BCC.

You must install and configure this package before you can use it. It is not installed and configured by default.
  1. Log in to a PDB as user SYS with the SYSDBA administrative privilege.
    sqlplus sys@pdb_name as sysdba
Enter password: password

    To find the available PDBs in a CDB, log in to the CDB root container and then query the PDB_NAME column of the DBA_PDBS data dictionary view. To check the current container, run the show con_name command.

  2. Install the UTL_MAIL package. 
    @$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/utlmail.sql
@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/prvtmail.plb

    The UTL_MAIL package enables you to manage email.

    Be aware that currently, the UTL_MAIL PL/SQL package does not support SSL servers.

  3. Check the current value of the SMTP_OUT_SERVER initialization parameter, and make a note of this value so that you can restore it when you complete this tutorial.

    For example: 

    SHOW PARAMETER SMTP_OUT_SERVER

    If the SMTP_OUT_SERVER parameter has already been set, then output similar to the following appears: 

    NAME                    TYPE              VALUE
----------------------- ----------------- ----------------------------------
SMTP_OUT_SERVER         string            some_imap_server.example.com
  4. Issue the following ALTER SYSTEM statement:
    ALTER SYSTEM SET SMTP_OUT_SERVER="imap_mail_server.example.com";

    Replace imap_mail_server.example.com with the name of your SMTP server, which you can find in the account settings in your email tool. Enclose these settings in quotation marks. For example: 

    ALTER SYSTEM SET SMTP_OUT_SERVER="my_imap_server.example.com";
  5. Connect as SYS using the SYSOPER privilege and then restart the database. 
    CONNECT SYS@pdb_name AS SYSOPER 
Enter password: password

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
STARTUP
  6. Ensure that the SMTP_OUT_SERVER parameter setting is correct.
    CONNECT SYS@pdb_name AS SYSDBA 
Enter password: password

SHOW PARAMETER SMTP_OUT_SERVER

    Output similar to the following appears:

    NAME                    TYPE              VALUE
----------------------- ----------------- ----------------------------------
SMTP_OUT_SERVER         string            my_imap_server.example.com
26.5.8.3 Step 2: Create User Accounts

You must create an administrative account and an auditor user.

  1. Ensure that you are connected as SYS using the SYSDBA administrative privilege, and then create the fga_admin user, who will create the fine-grained audit policy.

    For example:

    CONNECT SYS@pdb_name AS SYSDBA 
Enter password: password

CREATE USER fga_admin IDENTIFIED BY password;
GRANT CREATE SESSION, CREATE PROCEDURE, AUDIT_ADMIN TO fga_admin;
GRANT EXECUTE ON UTL_TCP TO fga_admin;
GRANT EXECUTE ON UTL_SMTP TO fga_admin;
GRANT EXECUTE ON UTL_MAIL TO fga_admin;
GRANT EXECUTE ON DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN TO fga_admin;

    Replace password with a password that is secure.

    The UTL_TCP, UTL_SMTP, UTL_MAIL, and DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN PL/SQL packages are used by the email security alert that you create.

  2. Create the auditor user, who will check the audit trail for this policy. 
    GRANT CREATE SESSION TO fga_auditor IDENTIFIED BY password;
GRANT AUDIT_VIEWER TO fga_auditor;
  3. Connect as user SYSTEM.
    CONNECT SYSTEM@pdb_name
Enter password: password
  4. Ensure that the HR schema account is unlocked and has a password. If necessary, unlock HR and grant this user a password. 
    SELECT USERNAME, ACCOUNT_STATUS FROM DBA_USERS WHERE USERNAME = 'HR';

    The account status should be OPEN. If the DBA_USERS view lists user HR as locked and expired, then enter the following statement to unlock the HR account and create a new password: 

    ALTER USER HR ACCOUNT UNLOCK IDENTIFIED BY password;

    Create a password that is secure. For greater security, do not give the HR account the same password from previous releases of Oracle Database.

  5. Create a user account for Susan Mavris, who is an HR representative whose actions you will audit, and then grant this user access to the HR.EMPLOYEES table. 
    GRANT CREATE SESSION TO smavris IDENTIFIED BY password;
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON HR.EMPLOYEES TO SMAVRIS;
26.5.8.4 Step 3: Configure an Access Control List File for Network Services

An access control list (ACL) file can be used to enable fine-grained access to external network services.

Before you can use PL/SQL network utility packages such as UTL_MAIL, you must configure this type of access control list (ACL) file.
  1. Connect to the PDB as user fga_admin. 
    CONNECT fga_admin@pdb_name
Enter password: password
  2. Configure the following access control setting and its privilege definitions.
    BEGIN
 DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.APPEND_HOST_ACE(
  host       => 'SMTP_OUT_SERVER_setting',
  lower_port => 25,
  ace        =>  xs$ace_type(privilege_list => xs$name_list('smtp'),
                             principal_name => 'FGA_ADMIN',
                             principal_type => xs_acl.ptype_db));
END;
/

    In this example:

    • SMTP_OUT_SERVER_setting: Enter the SMTP_OUT_SERVER setting that you set for the SMTP_OUT_SERVER parameter when you installed and configured the UTL_MAIL PL/SQL package. This setting should match exactly the setting that your email tool specifies for its outgoing server.

    • lower_port: Enter the port number that your email tool specifies for its outgoing server. Typically, this setting is 25. Enter this value for the lower_port setting. (Currently, the UTL_MAIL package does not support SSL. If your email server is an SSL server, then enter 25 for the port number, even if the email server uses a different port number.)

    • ace: Define the privileges here.

26.5.8.5 Step 4: Create the Email Security Alert PL/SQL Procedure

The email security alert PL/SQL procedure generates a message describing the violation and then sends this message to the appropriate users.

  • As user fga_admin, create the following procedure. 

    CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE email_alert (sch varchar2, tab varchar2, pol varchar2)
AS
msg varchar2(20000) := 'HR.EMPLOYEES table violation. The time is: ';
BEGIN
  msg := msg||TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'Day DD MON, YYYY HH24:MI:SS'); 
UTL_MAIL.SEND (
    sender      => 'youremail@example.com',
    recipients  => 'recipientemail@example.com',
    subject     => 'Table modification on HR.EMPLOYEES',
    message     => msg); 
END email_alert;
/

    In this example:

    • CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE ...AS: You must include a signature that describes the schema name (sch), table name (tab), and the name of the audit procedure (pol) that you will define in audit policy in the next step.

    • sender and recipients: Replace youremail@example.com with your email address, and recipientemail@example.com with the email address of the person you want to receive the notification.

26.5.8.6 Step 5: Create and Test the Fine-Grained Audit Policy Settings

The fine-grained audit policy will trigger the alert when the policy is violated.

  1. As user fga_admin, create the chk_hr_emp policy fine-grained audit policy as follows.
    BEGIN
 DBMS_FGA.ADD_POLICY (
  object_schema      =>  'HR',
  object_name        =>  'EMPLOYEES',
  policy_name        =>  'CHK_HR_EMP',
  audit_column       =>  'SALARY', 
  handler_schema     =>  'FGA_ADMIN',
  handler_module     =>  'EMAIL_ALERT',
  enable             =>   TRUE,
  statement_types    =>  'SELECT, UPDATE');
END;
/
  2. Commit the changes you have made to the database. 
    COMMIT;
  3. Test the settings that you have created so far. 
    EXEC email_alert ('hr', 'employees', 'chk_hr_emp');

    SQL*Plus should display a PL/SQL procedure successfully completed message, and in a moment, depending on the speed of your email server, you should receive the email alert.

    If you receive an ORA-24247: network access denied by access control list (ACL) error followed by ORA-06512: at stringline string errors, then check the settings in the access control list file.

26.5.8.7 Step 6: Test the Alert

With the components in place, you are ready to test the alert.

  1. Connect to the PDB as user smavris, check your salary, and give yourself a nice raise. 
    CONNECT smavris@pdb_name
Enter password: password

SELECT SALARY FROM HR.EMPLOYEES WHERE LAST_NAME = 'Mavris';

SALARY
-----------
6500

UPDATE HR.EMPLOYEES SET SALARY = 38000 WHERE LAST_NAME = 'Mavris';

    By now, depending on the speed of your email server, you (or your recipient) should have received an email with the subject header Table modification on HR.EMPLOYEES notifying you of the tampering of the HR.EMPLOYEES table. Now all you need to do is to query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view to find who the violator is.

  2. As user fga_auditor, query the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL data dictionary view as follows: 
    CONNECT fga_auditor@pdb_name
Enter password: password

col dbusername format a20
col sql_text format a66
col audit_type format a17

SELECT DBUSERNAME, SQL_TEXT, AUDIT_TYPE 
FROM UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL 
WHERE OBJECT_SCHEMA = 'HR' AND OBJECT_NAME = 'EMPLOYEES';

    Output similar to the following appears: 

    DBUSERNAME  SQL_TEXT                                                          AUDIT_TYPE
----------  ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
SMAVRIS     UPDATE HR.EMPLOYEES SET SALARY = 38000 WHERE LAST_NAME = 'Mavris' FineGrainedAudit

    The audit trail captures the SQL statement that Susan Mavris ran that affected the SALARY column in the HR.EMPLOYEES table. The first statement that Susan ran, in which they asked about their current salary, was not recorded because it was not affected by the audit policy. This is because Oracle Database runs the audit function as an autonomous transaction, committing only the actions of the handler_module setting and not any user transaction. The function has no effect on any user SQL transaction.

26.5.8.8 Step 7: Remove the Components of This Tutorial

If you no longer need the components of this tutorial, then you can remove them.

  1. Connect to SQL*Plus as user SYSTEM privilege, and then drop users fga_admin (including the objects in the fga_admin schema), fga_auditor, and smavris. 
    CONNECT SYSTEM@pdb_name
Enter password: password

DROP USER fga_admin CASCADE;
DROP USER fga_auditor;
DROP USER smavris;
  2. Connect as user HR and remove the loftiness of Susan Mavris's salary. 
    CONNECT HR@pdb_name
Enter password: password

UPDATE HR.EMPLOYEES SET SALARY = 6500 WHERE LAST_NAME = 'Mavris';
  3. If you want, lock and expire HR, unless other users want to use this account:
    ALTER USER HR PASSWORD EXPIRE ACCOUNT LOCK;
  4. Issue the following ALTER SYSTEM statement to restore the SMTP_OUT_SERVER parameter to the previous value, from Step 4 under Step 1: Install and Configure the UTL_MAIL PL/SQL Package:
    ALTER SYSTEM SET SMTP_OUT_SERVER="previous_value";

    Enclose this setting in quotation marks. For example: 

    ALTER SYSTEM SET SMTP_OUT_SERVER="some_imap_server.example.com"
  5. Connect to the CDB root as a user who has the SYSDBA administrative privilege. 
    CONNECT / AS SYSDBA
  6. Close and then reopen the PDB. 
    ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE pdb_name CLOSE IMMEDIATE;
ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE pdb_name OPEN;

26.6 Audit Policy Data Dictionary Views

Data dictionary and dynamic views can be used to find detailed auditing information.

Table 26-20 lists these views.

Tip:

To find error information about audit policies, check the trace files. The USER_DUMP_DEST initialization parameter sets the location of the trace files.

Table 26-20 Views That Display Information about Audited Activities

View Description

ALL_AUDIT_POLICIES

Displays information about all fine-grained audit policies

ALL_DEF_AUDIT_OPTS

Lists default object-auditing options that are to be applied when objects are created

AUDIT_UNIFIED_CONTEXTS

Describes application context values that have been configured to be captured in the audit trail

AUDIT_UNIFIED_ENABLED_POLICIES

Describes all unified audit policies that are enabled in the database

AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICIES

Describes all unified audit policies created in the database

AUDIT_UNIFIED_POLICY_COMMENTS

Shows the description of each unified audit policy, if a description was entered for the unified audit policy using the COMMENT SQL statement

AUDITABLE_SYSTEM_ACTIONS

Maps the auditable system action numbers to the action names

CDB_UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL

Similar to the UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL view, displays the audit records but from all PDBs in a multitenant environment. This view is available only in the CDB root and must be queried from there.

DBA_AUDIT_POLICIES

Displays information about fine-grained audit policies

DBA_SA_AUDIT_OPTIONS

Describes audited Oracle Label Security events performed by users, and indicates if the user's action failed or succeeded

DBA_XS_AUDIT_TRAIL

Displays audit trail information related to Oracle Database Real Application Security

DV$CONFIGURATION_AUDIT

Displays configuration changes made by Oracle Database Vault administrators

DV$ENFORCEMENT_AUDIT

Displays user activities that are affected by Oracle Database Vault policies

SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_MAP (table)

Describes privilege (auditing option) type codes. This table can be used to map privilege (auditing option) type numbers to type names.

USER_AUDIT_POLICIES

Displays information about all fine-grained audit policies on table and views owned by the current user

UNIFIED_AUDIT_TRAIL

Displays all audit records

V$OPTION

You can query the PARAMETER column for Unified Auditing to find if unified auditing is enabled

V$XML_AUDIT_TRAIL

Displays standard, fine-grained, SYS, and mandatory audit records written in XML format files.

Related Topics

Parent topic: Configuring Audit Policies