The Cisco switch must be configured to have Gratuitous ARP disabled on all external interfaces.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-221082CISC-RT-000150SV-221082r999691_ruleCCI-002385medium
Description
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 address. A spoofed gratuitous ARP message can cause network mapping information to be stored incorrectly, causing network malfunction.
STIGDate
Cisco NX OS Switch RTR Security Technical Implementation Guide2024-12-20

Details

Check Text (C-221082r999691_chk)

Review the configuration to determine if gratuitous ARP is disabled on all external interfaces as shown in the example below: interface Ethernet2/7 no switchport ip address x.22.4.2/30 no ip arp gratuitous request Note: Gratuitous ARP is enabled on all interfaces by default. If gratuitous ARP is enabled on any external interface, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-22786r409736_fix)

Disable Gratuitous ARP as shown in the example below: SW1(config)# int e2/7 SW1(config-if)# no ip arp gratuitous request SW1(config-if)# end