Cisco NX OS Switch NDM STIG Version Comparison

There are 2 differences between versions v3 r4 (July 2, 2025) (the "left" version) and v3 r6 (Jan. 5, 2026) (the "right" version).

Check CISC-ND-001150 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 authenticate Network Time Protocol (NTP) sources using authentication with FIPS-compliant algorithms. that is cryptographically based.

Check Content

Review the Cisco switch configuration to verify that it is compliant authenticates NTP sources using authentication with this requirement FIPS-compliant algorithms as shown in the configuration example below: ntp distribute ntp below: show running-config ntp ntp authentication-key 1 md5 xxxxxx ntp server 10.1.12.10 key 1 ntp server 10.1.22.13 key 1 ntp authenticate ntp authentication-key 1 hmac-sha2-256 xxxxxx ntp trusted-key 1 ntp commit If authenticate Note: Cisco NX-OS is limited to MD5 for NTP authentication, and incurs a permanent finding as it is not FIPS compliant. MD5 partially reduces the risk but cannot fully mitigate it. If the Cisco switch is not configured to authenticate NTP sources using authentication with FIPS-compliant algorithms, that is cryptographically based, this is a finding.

Discussion

If NTP Network Time Protocol is not authenticated, an attacker can introduce a rogue NTP server. This rogue server can then be used to send incorrect time information to network devices, which will make log timestamps inaccurate and affect scheduled actions. NTP authentication is used to prevent this tampering by authenticating the time source.

Fix

Configure the Cisco switch to authenticate NTP sources using authentication with FIPS-compliant algorithms that is cryptographically based as shown in the example below: SW1(config)# below: SW1# ntp authenticate SW1(config)# configure terminal SW1(config)# feature ntp SW1(config)# ntp authentication-key 1 hmac-sha2-256 md5 xxxxxx SW1(config)# ntp trusted-key 1 SW1(config)# ntp authenticate SW1(config)# ntp server 10.1.12.10 key 1 SW1(config)# ntp server 10.1.22.13 key 1 SW1(config)# commit SW1(config)# end SW1# copy running-config startup-config Note: The ntp commit SW1(config)# end commit command can be omitted if CFS is not enabled for NTP.