Title

SNMP communities, users, and passphrases must be changed from the default. (Cat I impact)

Discussion

Whether active or not, default SNMP passwords, users, and passphrases must be changed to maintain security. If the service is running with the default authenticators, then anyone can gather data about the system and the network and use the information to potentially compromise the integrity of the system or network(s).

Check Content

Check the SNMP configuration for default passwords. Locate and examine the SNMP configuration. Procedure: # find / -name snmpd.conf -print # more snmpd.conf Identify any community names or user password configuration. If any community name or password is set to a default value, such as public, private, snmp-trap, password, or any value which does not meet DISA password requirements, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Change the default passwords. To change them, locate the snmpd.conf file and edit it. Locate the line system-group-read-community which has a default password of public and make the password something more random (less guessable). Make the same changes for the lines that read system-group-write-community, read-community, write-community, trap, and trap-community. Read the information in the file carefully. The trap is defining who to send traps to, for instance, by default. It is not a password, but the name of a host.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-993r2_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-993

Group Title:

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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