Title

The SDN controller must be configured to separate tenant functionality from system management functionality. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) is frequently offered in a multi-tenant paradigm, where customers share network infrastructure. SDN provides an approach to the provisioning of virtual network services by owners of the network infrastructures to third parties. This leads to various multi-tenancy deployments using different techniques, each of which provides different levels of control while requiring different types of isolation among users. For example, a southbound implementation allows multiple guest controllers sharing the same data forwarding elements; whereas a northbound implementation enables multiple guest applications sharing the whole SDN infrastructure including the SDN controller. To ensure stable network operations in a multi-tenant deployment, it is imperative that the SDN controller is configured to separate tenant functionality from system management functionality.

Check Content

Review the SDN controller configuration to determine whether tenant functionality is separated from system management functionality using separated instances within the controller framework as well as Role-based access control (RBAC). If the SDN controller is not configured to separate tenant functionality from system management functionality, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the SDN controller to have tenant functionality separated from system management functionality using separated instances within the controller framework as well as Role-based access control (RBAC).

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-206738r385561_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-206738

Group Title: SRG-NET-000512

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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