Cisco IOS Switch RTR Security Technical Implementation Guide

Overview

VersionDateFinding Count (53)Downloads
32024-06-06CAT I (High): 4CAT II (Medium): 38CAT III (Low): 11
STIG Description
This Security Technical Implementation Guide is published as a tool to improve the security of Department of Defense (DOD) information systems. The requirements are derived from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 and related documents. Comments or proposed revisions to this document should be sent via email to the following address: disa.stig_spt@mail.mil.
ClassifiedPublicSensitive
I - Mission Critical ClassifiedI - Mission Critical PublicI - Mission Critical Sensitive
II - Mission Support ClassifiedII - Mission Support PublicII - Mission Support Sensitive
III - Administrative ClassifiedIII - Administrative PublicIII - Administrative Sensitive

Findings - All

Finding IDSeverityTitleDescription
V-220428
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to protect against or limit the effects of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks by employing control plane protection.The Route Processor (RP) is critical to all network operations because it is the component used to build all forwarding paths for the data plane via c...
V-220440
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to deny network traffic by default and allow network traffic by exception.A deny-all, permit-by-exception network communications traffic policy ensures that only connections that are essential and approved are allowed. Thi...
V-220455
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco PE switch must be configured to block any traffic that is destined to the IP core infrastructure.IP addresses can be guessed. Core network elements must not be accessible from any external host. Protecting the core from any attack is vital for the...
V-220471
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to restrict it from accepting outbound IP packets that contain an illegitimate address in the source address field via egress filter or by enabling Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (uRPF).A compromised host in an enclave can be used by a malicious platform to launch cyberattacks on third parties. This is a common practice in "botnets", ...
V-220419
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to enforce approved authorizations for controlling the flow of information within the network based on organization-defined information flow control policies.Information flow control regulates where information is allowed to travel within a network and between interconnected networks. The flow of all networ...
V-220423
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to enable routing protocol authentication using FIPS 198-1 algorithms with keys not exceeding 180 days of lifetime.A rogue router could send a fictitious routing update to convince a site's perimeter router to send traffic to an incorrect or even a rogue destinatio...
V-220427
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must not be configured to have any zero-touch deployment feature enabled when connected to an operational network.Network devices that are configured via a zero-touch deployment or auto-loading feature can have their startup configuration or image pushed to the de...
V-220431
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to have gratuitous ARP disabled on all external interfaces.A gratuitous ARP is an ARP broadcast in which the source and destination MAC addresses are the same. It is used to inform the network about a host IP ...
V-220433
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to have Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) unreachable messages disabled on all external interfaces.The ICMP supports IP traffic by relaying information about paths, routes, and network conditions. Switches automatically send ICMP messages under a wi...
V-220434
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to have Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) mask reply messages disabled on all external interfaces.The ICMP supports IP traffic by relaying information about paths, routes, and network conditions. Switches automatically send ICMP messages under a wi...
V-220435
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to have Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) redirect messages disabled on all external interfaces.The ICMP supports IP traffic by relaying information about paths, routes, and network conditions. Switches automatically send ICMP messages under a wi...
V-220437
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to produce audit records containing information to establish where the events occurred.Without establishing where events occurred, it is impossible to establish, correlate, and investigate the events leading up to an outage or attack. ...
V-220438
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to produce audit records containing information to establish the source of the events.Without establishing the source of the event, it is impossible to establish, correlate, and investigate the events leading up to an outage or attack. ...
V-220441
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to enforce approved authorizations for controlling the flow of information between interconnected networks in accordance with applicable policy.Information flow control regulates authorized information to travel within a network and between interconnected networks. Controlling the flow of netw...
V-220442
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to only allow incoming communications from authorized sources to be routed to authorized destinations.Unrestricted traffic may contain malicious traffic that poses a threat to an enclave or to other connected networks. Additionally, unrestricted traffi...
V-220443
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to block inbound packets with source Bogon IP address prefixes.Packets with Bogon IP source addresses should never be allowed to traverse the IP core. Bogon IP networks are RFC1918 addresses or address blocks that...
V-220445
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to filter traffic destined to the enclave in accordance with the guidelines contained in DoD Instruction 8551.1.Vulnerability assessments must be reviewed by the System Administrator, and protocols must be approved by the Information Assurance (IA) staff before ...
V-220446
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to filter ingress traffic at the external interface on an inbound direction.Access lists are used to separate data traffic into that which it will route (permitted packets) and that which it will not route (denied packets). Se...
V-220447
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to filter egress traffic at the internal interface on an inbound direction.Access lists are used to separate data traffic into that which it will route (permitted packets) and that which it will not route (denied packets). Se...
V-220451
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to have Proxy ARP disabled on all external interfaces.When Proxy ARP is enabled on a switch, it allows that switch to extend the network (at Layer 2) across multiple interfaces (LAN segments). Because pro...
V-220452
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to block all outbound management traffic.For in-band management, the management network must have its own subnet in order to enforce control and access boundaries provided by Layer 3 network ...
V-220453
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to only permit management traffic that ingresses and egresses the out-of-band management (OOBM) interface.The OOBM access switch will connect to the management interface of the managed network elements. The management interface can be a true OOBM interface...
V-220454
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco PE switch providing MPLS Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) services must be configured to authenticate targeted Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) sessions used to exchange virtual circuit (VC) information using a FIPS-approved message authentication code algorithm.LDP provides the signaling required for setting up and tearing down pseudowires (virtual circuits used to transport Layer 2 frames) across an MPLS IP ...
V-220456
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco PE switch must be configured with Unicast Reverse Path Forwarding (uRPF) loose mode enabled on all CE-facing interfaces.The uRPF feature is a defense against spoofing and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks by verifying if the source address of any ingress packet is reachab...
V-220460
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to enforce a Quality-of-Service (QoS) policy to limit the effects of packet flooding denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.DoS is a condition when a resource is not available for legitimate users. Packet flooding distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are referred to...
V-220461
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco multicast switch must be configured to disable Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) on all interfaces that are not required to support multicast routing.If multicast traffic is forwarded beyond the intended boundary, it is possible that it can be intercepted by unauthorized or unintended personnel. Lim...
V-220462
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco multicast switch must be configured to bind a Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) neighbor filter to interfaces that have PIM enabled.PIM is a routing protocol used to build multicast distribution trees for forwarding multicast traffic across the network infrastructure. PIM traffic m...
V-220465
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco multicast Designated switch (DR) must be configured to filter the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) and Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) Report messages to allow hosts to join a multicast group only from sources that have been approved by the organization.Real-time multicast traffic can entail multiple large flows of data. Large unicast flows tend to be fairly isolated (i.e., someone doing a file downlo...
V-220466
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco multicast Designated switch (DR) must be configured to limit the number of mroute states resulting from Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) and Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) Host Membership Reports.The current multicast paradigm can let any host join any multicast group at any time by sending an IGMP or MLD membership report to the DR. In a Proto...
V-220467
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco multicast Designated switch (DR) must be configured to set the shortest-path tree (SPT) threshold to infinity to minimalize source-group (S, G) state within the multicast topology where Any Source Multicast (ASM) is deployed.ASM can have many sources for the same groups (many-to-many). For many receivers, the path via the RP may not be ideal compared with the shortest path...
V-220472
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to block all packets with any IP options.Packets with IP options are not fast switched and henceforth must be punted to the switch processor. Hackers who initiate denial-of-service (DoS) atta...
V-220473
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco PE switch must be configured to ignore or drop all packets with any IP options.Packets with IP options are not fast-switched and therefore must be punted to the switch processor. Hackers who initiate denial-of-service (DoS) attac...
V-237749
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to have Cisco Express Forwarding enabled.The Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF) switching mode replaces the traditional Cisco routing cache with a data structure that mirrors the entire system ro...
V-237755
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must not be configured to use IPv6 Site Local Unicast addresses.As currently defined, site local addresses are ambiguous and can be present in multiple sites. The address itself does not contain any indication of t...
V-237758
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to suppress Router Advertisements on all external IPv6-enabled interfaces.Many of the known attacks in stateless autoconfiguration are defined in RFC 3756 were present in IPv4 ARP attacks. To mitigate these vulnerabilities, ...
V-237761
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to drop IPv6 undetermined transport packets.One of the fragmentation weaknesses known in IPv6 is the undetermined transport packet. This packet contains an undetermined protocol due to fragmenta...
V-237763
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured drop IPv6 packets with a Routing Header type 0, 1, or 3-255.The routing header can be used maliciously to send a packet through a path where less robust security is in place, rather than through the presumably ...
V-237765
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to drop IPv6 packets containing a Hop-by-Hop header with invalid option type values.These options are intended to be for the Destination Options header only. The optional and extensible natures of the IPv6 extension headers require hi...
V-237771
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to drop IPv6 packets containing a Destination Option header with invalid option type values.These options are intended to be for the Hop-by-Hop header only. The optional and extensible natures of the IPv6 extension headers require higher scru...
V-237773
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to drop IPv6 packets containing an extension header with the Endpoint Identification option.The optional and extensible natures of the IPv6 extension headers require higher scrutiny since many implementations do not always drop packets with h...
V-237775
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to drop IPv6 packets containing the NSAP address option within Destination Option header.The optional and extensible natures of the IPv6 extension headers require higher scrutiny since many implementations do not always drop packets with h...
V-237777
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to drop IPv6 packets containing a Hop-by-Hop or Destination Option extension header with an undefined option type.The optional and extensible natures of the IPv6 extension headers require higher scrutiny since many implementations do not always drop packets with h...
V-220424
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to have all inactive Layer 3 interfaces disabled.An inactive interface is rarely monitored or controlled and may expose a network to an undetected attack on that interface. Unauthorized personnel wit...
V-220432
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to have IP directed broadcast disabled on all interfaces.An IP directed broadcast is a datagram sent to the broadcast address of a subnet that is not directly attached to the sending machine. The directed br...
V-220436
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to log all packets that have been dropped at interfaces via an access control list (ACL).Auditing and logging are key components of any security architecture. It is essential for security personnel to know what is being done or attempted t...
V-220439
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to disable the auxiliary port unless it is connected to a secured modem providing encryption and authentication.The use of POTS lines to modems connecting to network devices provides clear text of authentication traffic over commercial circuits that could be cap...
V-220449
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to have Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) disabled on all external interfaces.LLDP is a neighbor discovery protocol used to advertise device capabilities, configuration information, and device identity. LLDP is media-and-protoco...
V-220450
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco perimeter switch must be configured to have Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) disabled on all external interfaces.CDP is a Cisco proprietary neighbor discovery protocol used to advertise device capabilities, configuration information, and device identity. CDP is m...
V-220458
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco PE switch must be configured to enforce a Quality-of-Service (QoS) policy to provide preferred treatment for mission-critical applications.Different applications have unique requirements and toleration levels for delay, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss, and availability. To manage the multi...
V-220459
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco P switch must be configured to enforce a Quality-of-Service (QoS) policy to provide preferred treatment for mission-critical applications.Different applications have unique requirements and toleration levels for delay, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss, and availability. To manage the multi...
V-220463
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco multicast edge switch must be configured to establish boundaries for administratively scoped multicast traffic.If multicast traffic is forwarded beyond the intended boundary, it is possible that it can be intercepted by unauthorized or unintended personnel. A...
V-220464
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco multicast Designated switch (DR) must be configured to filter the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) and Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) Report messages to allow hosts to join only multicast groups that have been approved by the organization.Real-time multicast traffic can entail multiple large flows of data. Large unicast flows tend to be fairly isolated (i.e., someone doing a file downlo...
V-237751
LOWMEDIUMHIGH
The Cisco switch must be configured to advertise a hop limit of at least 32 in Switch Advertisement messages for IPv6 stateless auto-configuration deployments.The Neighbor Discovery protocol allows a hop limit value to be advertised by routers in a Router Advertisement message being used by hosts instead of ...