Ensure 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries' Server Configuration Option is set to '0'

MediumLevel 1Automatedmssql

Description

Enabling Ad Hoc Distributed Queries allows users to query data and execute statements on external data sources. This functionality should be disabled. This feature can be used to remotely access and exploit vulnerabilities on remote SQL Server instances and to run unsafe Visual Basic for Application functions.

How it is checked

Audit method: SQL query

sql_query

sqlcmd -b -h -1 -W -Q "SET NOCOUNT ON; SELECT CASE WHEN CAST(value AS int) = 0 AND CAST(value_in_use AS int) = 0 THEN 'compliant' ELSE 'noncompliant' END FROM sys.configurations WHERE name = 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries';"

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

For AWS RDS Instances, please refer to the documentation for using Parameter Groups here: Working with parameter groups Run the following T-SQL command: EXECUTE sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1; RECONFIGURE; EXECUTE sp_configure 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries', 0; RECONFIGURE; GO EXECUTE sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0; RECONFIGURE;

Properties

Operating systems: Any
Tags: mssqlsqlserver-2022
Reference: CIS Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Benchmark v1.3.0 - 2.1 Ensure 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries' Server Configuration Option is set to '0'

Check this host

Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.

shell

tmaegis scan --target mssql