Title

The Cisco ISE must be configured to authenticate SNMP messages using a FIPS-validated Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC). (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Without authenticating devices, unidentified or unknown devices may be introduced, thereby facilitating malicious activity. Bidirectional authentication provides stronger safeguards to validate the identity of other devices for connections that are of greater risk. A local connection is any connection with a device communicating without the use of a network. A network connection is any connection with a device that communicates through a network (e.g., local area or wide area network, Internet). A remote connection is any connection with a device communicating through an external network (e.g., the Internet). Because of the challenges of applying this requirement on a large scale, organizations are encouraged to only apply the requirement to those limited number (and type) of devices that truly need to support this capability.

Check Content

Navigate to Administration >> System >> Settings >> FIPS Mode. Verify FIPS Mode is enabled. If FIPS Mode is enabled, this is not a finding. If FIPS mode is not configured, but the Cisco ISE is configured so that SNMP messages are authenticated using a FIPS 140-2/3 validated HMAC, this can be lowered to a CAT 3 finding.

Fix Text

Enable FIPS Mode in Cisco ISE to ensure FIPS 140-2/3 algorithms are used in all security functions requiring cryptographic functions. 1. Choose Administration >> System >> Settings >> FIPS Mode. 2. Choose the "Enabled" option from the FIPS Mode drop-down list. 3. Click "Save" and restart the node. NOTE: Configuring FIPS mode is the required DoD configuration. However, this requirement can be lowered to a CAT 3 if the alternative manual configuration is used to configure SNMP messages to authenticate using a FIPS-140-2/3 validated HMAC.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-242643r879768_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-242643

Group Title: SRG-APP-000395-NDM-000310

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.