CI Lookup Rules for identifying configuration items from Configuration Compliance third-party vulnerability integrations

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of CI Lookup Rules for identifying configuration items from Configuration Compliance third-party vulnerability integrations

    CI Lookup Rules in Configuration Compliance automatically identify and map configuration items (CIs) from third-party vulnerability integration data imports to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This process supports accurate CI identification to facilitate remediation of security issues found during vulnerability scans.

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    How CI Lookup Rules Work

    • When host data is imported, Configuration Compliance first attempts to match assets using third-party IDs against the Discovered Items list to find existing CIs.
    • If no match is found or the CI field is empty, additional host information is used to search for a CI match.
    • If still unmatched, a placeholder "Unmatched CI" is created and a new discovered item is linked to it.
    • Matching begins with an exact vendor ID lookup, followed by evaluating CI lookup rules ordered by priority until a single CI match is found.
    • If multiple matches occur, only the first CI is used; low-level networking CIs are replaced by their parent CI to avoid irrelevant matches.

    Important Details for ServiceNow Customers

    • CI Lookup Rules are currently available only for the Qualys Integration for Security Operations, and rules are domain-separated and source-specific.
    • Each deployment of Qualys Integration has its own CI lookup rules, but rule changes affect all deployments globally.
    • System properties allow exclusion of specific CI classes from matching to refine results.
    • The CI lookup rule that successfully matched an asset is logged in the Discovered Item record for traceability.
    • Base system ships with predefined CI lookup rules for Qualys, Microsoft Defender, and Palo Alto Prisma Cloud integrations.

    Performance and Maintenance

    • Complex or poorly constructed lookup rules can degrade instance performance due to extensive CMDB searches.
    • Customers should thoroughly test custom or modified CI lookup rules to prevent performance issues and data inconsistencies such as duplicate or orphaned records.
    • After modifying CI lookup rules, the "Apply Changes" action reruns matching on relevant discovered items to update CIs and associated test results accordingly.
    • Tools like the Duplicate CI Remediator support deduplication tasks to maintain CMDB data quality in Configuration Compliance.

    When data is imported from a third-party integration, Configuration Compliance automatically uses host data to search for matches in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). It does this using CI Lookup Rules. These rules are used to identify configuration items (CIs) and add them to the test result record to aid in remediation.

    As assets are imported, a lookup is performed first on the Discovered Items list using third-party IDs to find matches to configuration item (CIs) from prior imports. When a host ID match is found, it is used as the Configuration item field in the test result record.

    You can see how imported assets are mapped to CIs using the Discovered Items list. If a match is not found, or the cmdb_ci field is empty, the rules use the other host information to attempt to correctly identify the CI. If a match is still not found, a placeholder CI is created and is designated as an Unmatched CI. See Unmatched CIs for more information on how those CIs are handled.

    A new discovered item is created and mapped to this CI.

    Note:
    CI lookup rules are available only for the Qualys Integration for Security Operations.
    CI lookup rules can be domain separated and are source-specific. Each source can have multiple deployments. Qualys can have multiple deployments of the Qualys Integration. Each deployment has its own set of CI Lookup Rules.
    Note:
    CI lookup rules are shared by all deployments of the vulnerability integration. If a rule is deleted or modified, the deletion or changes affect all deployments of the vulnerability integration.
    When attempting a match, the first step is a vendor ID lookup for an exact match across source, source_instance, and vendor ID. Then, lookup rules are run in order, from lowest to highest and stop when a rule returns just a single CI as a match. If a rule is created in such a way that it returns more than one CI, only the first match is used.
    Note:
    To avoid matching on low-level networking elements, if a matched CI is one of dscy_switchport, cmdb_ci_network_adapter, cmdb_ci_nic, or cmdb_ci_ip_address, the parent CI is returned.

    A system property to exclude CI classes is available. This property is not available with upgrade. See Ignore CI classes for upgrade information and instructions on setting the property.

    To make it easier to find matching issues, when a match is found, the CI lookup rule used to find it is added to the Discovered Item record in the CI matching rule field. Lookup rules are evaluated by lowest Order value first.

    Some of the Qualys CI lookup rules shipped with the base system are:
    • QUALYS HOST ID
    • FQDN
    • NetBIOS
    • DNS
    • IP
    Some of the Microsoft Defender CI lookup rules shipped with the base system are:
    • S3 Bucket
    • Name
    • Resource Id
    Some of the Palo Alto Prisma Cloud CI lookup rules shipped with the base system are:
    • S3 Bucket
    • Name
    • Resource Id

    Importing test results data can be taxing on an instance and performance issues with resources can occur if rules are not carefully constructed. The logic used to iterate through and perform matching within the CMDB can result in lengthy processing times. To avoid any potential degradation of resources or performance complications, test any custom-written CI Lookup Rules or modifications to pre-defined CI Lookup Rules. See Steps to help prevent duplicate or orphaned records after running Vulnerability Response CI lookup rules for more information on preventing duplicate orphan records, deleting data, and cleaning up data.

    Reapplying updated CI lookup rules

    When you change a CI lookup rule, click Apply Changes on the CI Lookup Rules list page to rerun all the rules on the discovered items that:
    • Were matched by the updated rules
    • Are not matched by any rule
    If the configuration item (CI) changes after reapplying the lookup rules, the discovered items are updated with the new CI. The test results are also updated. For more information, see CI changes for discovered items for Configuration Compliance.