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Cisco IOS XE Switch NDM Security Technical Implementation Guide

Rules, Groups, and Values defined within the XCCDF Benchmark

  • The Cisco switch must be configured to automatically audit account creation.

    Upon gaining access to a network device, an attacker will often first attempt to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is to create a new account. Notifica...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to enforce approved authorizations for controlling the flow of management information within the device based on control policies.

    A mechanism to detect and prevent unauthorized communication flow must be configured or provided as part of the system design. If management information flow is not enforced based on approved autho...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to display the Standard Mandatory DoD Notice and Consent Banner before granting access to the device.

    Display of the DoD-approved use notification before granting access to the network device ensures privacy and security notification verbiage used is consistent with applicable federal laws, executi...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to protect audit information from unauthorized modification.

    Audit information includes all information (e.g., audit records, audit settings, and audit reports) needed to successfully audit network device activity. If audit data were to become compromised, ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to limit privileges to change the software resident within software libraries.

    Changes to any software components of the network device can have significant effects on the overall security of the network. Therefore, only qualified and authorized individuals should be allowed ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured with only one local account to be used as the account of last resort in the event the authentication server is unavailable.

    Authentication for administrative (privileged level) access to the device is required at all times. An account can be created on the device's local database for use when the authentication server i...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one numeric character be used.

    Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resistin...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must only store cryptographic representations of passwords.

    Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily c...
    Rule High Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to terminate all network connections associated with device management after five minutes of inactivity.

    Terminating an idle session within a short time period reduces the window of opportunity for unauthorized personnel to take control of a management session enabled on the console or console port th...
    Rule High Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to synchronize its clock with the primary and secondary time sources using redundant authoritative time sources.

    The loss of connectivity to a particular authoritative time source will result in the loss of time synchronization (free-run mode) and increasingly inaccurate time stamps on audit events and other ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to use FIPS-validated Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC) to protect the integrity of remote maintenance sessions.

    Unapproved mechanisms that are used for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified and therefore cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be ...
    Rule High Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to generate audit records when successful/unsuccessful logon attempts occur.

    Without generating audit records that are specific to the security and mission needs of the organization, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an in...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to use at least two authentication servers for the purpose of authenticating users prior to granting administrative access.

    Centralized management of user accounts and authentication increases the administrative access to the switch. This control is a particularly important protection against the insider threat. With ro...
    Rule High Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to support organizational requirements to conduct backups of the configuration when changes occur.

    System-level information includes default and customized settings and security attributes, including ACLs that relate to the network device configuration, as well as software required for the execu...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts, after which time it must lock out the user account from accessing the device for 15 minutes.

    By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-forcing, is reduced.
    Rule Medium Severity
  • SRG-APP-000068-NDM-000215

    Group
  • SRG-APP-000001-NDM-000200

    Group
  • The Cisco switch must be configured to limit the number of concurrent management sessions to an organization-defined number.

    Device management includes the ability to control the number of administrators and management sessions that manage a device. Limiting the number of allowed administrators and sessions per administr...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • SRG-APP-000026-NDM-000208

    Group
  • SRG-APP-000027-NDM-000209

    Group

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