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More Info:

The user connections option specifies the maximum number of simultaneous user connections that are allowed on an instance of SQL Server. The actual number of user connections allowed also depends on the version of SQL Server that you are using, and also the limits of your application or applications and hardware. SQL Server allows a maximum of 32,767 user connections. Because user connections is by default a self-configuring value, with SQL Server adjusting the maximum number of user connections automatically as needed, up to the maximum value allowable. For example, if only 10 users are logged in, 10 user connection objects are allocated. In most cases, you do not have to change the value for this option. The default is 0, which means that the maximum (32,767) user connections are allowed. However if there is a number defined here that limits connections, SQL Server will not allow anymore above this limit. If the connections are at the limit, any new requests will be dropped, potentially causing lost data or outages for those using the database.

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Risk Level

Low

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Address

Reliability, Security

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Compliance Standards

CISGCP, CBP

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Triage and Remediation

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Remediation

Using Console

To remediate the SQL Server User Connections Flag misconfiguration in GCP using GCP console, follow the steps below:
  1. Log in to the Google Cloud Console and navigate to the Cloud SQL Instances page.
  2. Select the SQL Server instance that you want to remediate.
  3. Click on the “Edit” button at the top of the page.
  4. Scroll down to the “Flags” section and locate the “user connections” flag.
  5. Change the value of the “user connections” flag to “0” to set it to a non-limiting value.
  6. Click on the “Save” button at the bottom of the page to apply the changes.
After completing these steps, the SQL Server User Connections Flag misconfiguration will be remediated for the selected instance in GCP using GCP console.

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To remediate the SQL Server User Connections Flag misconfiguration for GCP using GCP CLI, follow these steps:
  1. Open the Cloud Shell by clicking on the Cloud Shell icon located in the top right-hand corner of the GCP Console.
  2. Run the following command to connect to the SQL Server instance: 
    gcloud sql connect [INSTANCE_NAME] --user=[USER_NAME]
    Replace [INSTANCE_NAME] with the name of your SQL Server instance and [USER_NAME] with the name of your SQL Server user.
  3. Once connected, run the following command to set the SQL Server User Connections flag to a non-limiting value: 
    EXEC sp_configure 'user connections', 0
RECONFIGURE
    This will set the maximum number of user connections to 0, which is a non-limiting value.
  4. Verify that the flag has been set correctly by running the following command: 
    EXEC sp_configure 'user connections'
    This should return a value of 0 for the maximum number of user connections.
  5. Exit the SQL Server instance by running the following command: 
    exit
    This will disconnect you from the SQL Server instance.
  6. Verify that the misconfiguration has been remediated by running a vulnerability scan or reviewing the configuration settings for the SQL Server instance.
To remediate the SQL Server User Connections Flag misconfiguration for GCP, you can use the following steps:
  1. Connect to your GCP project using the Python SDK and authenticate with your credentials.
  2. Identify the SQL Server instance that has the misconfiguration.
  3. Use the Cloud SQL Admin API to update the userConnections flag to a non-limiting value.
  4. Verify that the flag has been updated successfully.
Here’s a sample Python code that you can use to remediate the misconfiguration:
# Import the required libraries
from google.oauth2 import service_account
from googleapiclient.discovery import build

# Set the required variables
project_id = 'your-project-id'
instance_id = 'your-instance-id'
new_user_connections = 'max'

# Authenticate with your credentials
credentials = service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file(
    'path/to/your/credentials.json'
)

# Create a Cloud SQL Admin API client
sqladmin = build('sqladmin', 'v1beta4', credentials=credentials)

# Update the userConnections flag to a non-limiting value
request_body = {
    'settings': {
        'userVariables': {
            'userConnections': new_user_connections
        }
    }
}
response = sqladmin.instances().patch(
    project=project_id,
    instance=instance_id,
    body=request_body
).execute()

# Verify that the flag has been updated successfully
if response['settings']['userVariables']['userConnections'] == new_user_connections:
    print('The userConnections flag has been updated successfully.')
else:
    print('There was an error updating the userConnections flag.')
Make sure to replace your-project-id, your-instance-id, and path/to/your/credentials.json with the appropriate values for your GCP project and instance. Also, note that this code uses the v1beta4 version of the Cloud SQL Admin API, so you may need to update it to the latest version if necessary.

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Additional Reading: