Cisco IOS Switch NDM STIG Version Comparison

There are 2 differences between versions v2 r7 (Oct. 25, 2023) (the "left" version) and v2 r9 (April 24, 2024) (the "right" version).

Check CISC-ND-001370 was changed between these two versions. Green, underlined text was added, red, struck-out text was removed.

The regular view of the left check and right check may be easier to read.

Title

The Cisco switch must be configured to use at least two authentication servers to authenticate users prior to granting administrative access.

Check Content

Review the Cisco switch configuration to verify that the device is configured to use at least two authentication servers as the primary source for authentication as shown in the example below: aaa new-model ! aaa authentication CONSOLE local aaa authentication login LOGIN_AUTHENTICATION group radius local … … … ip http authentication aaa login-authentication LOGIN_AUTHENTICATION ip http secure-server … … … radius-server host x.x.x.x auth-port 1645 1812 acct-port 1646 1813 key xxxxxxx radius-server host x.x.x.x auth-port 1645 1812 acct-port 1646 1813 key xxxxxxx … … … line con 0 exec-timeout 5 0 login authentication CONSOLE line local radius line vty 0 1 exec-timeout 5 0 login authentication LOGIN_AUTHENTICATION If the Cisco switch is not configured to use at least two authentication servers to authenticate users prior to granting administrative access, this is a finding.

Discussion

Centralized management of user accounts and authentication increases the administrative access to the switch. This control is particularly important protection against the insider threat. With robust centralized management, audit records for administrator account access to the organization's network devices can be more readily analyzed for trends and anomalies. The alternative method of defining administrator accounts on each device exposes the device configuration to remote access authentication attacks and system administrators with multiple authenticators for each network device.

Fix

Step 1: Configure the Cisco switch to use at least two authentication servers as shown in the example below: SW4(config)#radius host 10.1.48.2 key xxxxxx SW4(config)#radius host 10.1.48.3 key xxxxxx Step 2: Configure the authentication order to use the authentication servers as the primary source for authentication as shown in the example below: SW4(config)#aaa authentication CONSOLE local SW4(config)#aaa authentication login LOGIN_AUTHENTICATION group radius local Step 3: Configure all network connections associated with device management to use the authentication servers for login authentication: SW4(config)#line vty 0 1 SW4(config-line)#login authentication LOGIN_AUTHENTICATION SW4(config-line)#exit SW4(config)#line con 0 SW4(config-line)#login authentication local radius SW4(config-line)#exit SW4(config)#ip CONSOLE SW4(config-line)#exit SW4(config)#ip http authentication aaa login-authentication LOGIN_AUTHENTICATION