Detections
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1.6.2 AutoSecure

Warning! Audit Deprecated

This audit has been deprecated and will be removed in a future update.

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Information

The AutoSecure feature secures a router by using a single CLI command to disable common IP services that can be exploited for network attacks, enable IP services and features that can aid in the defense of a network when under attack, and simplify and harden the security configuration of the router.

Rationale:

After enabling this feature (through the auto secure command), the following global services are disabled on the router without prompting the user:

Finger--Collects information about the system (reconnaissance) before an attack. If enabled, the information can leave your device vulnerable to attacks.

PAD--Enables all packet assembler and disassembler (PAD) commands and connections between PAD devices and access servers. If enabled, it can leave your device vulnerable to attacks.

Small Servers--Causes TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) diagnostic port attacks: a sender transmits a volume of fake requests for UDP diagnostic services on the router, consuming all CPU resources.

Bootp Server--Bootp is an insecure protocol that can be exploited for an attack.

HTTP Server--Without secure-http or authentication embedded in the HTTP server with an associated ACL, the HTTP server is insecure and can be exploited for an attack. (If you must enable the HTTP server, you are prompted for the proper authentication or access list.) Identification Service--An insecure protocol, defined in RFC 1413, that allows one to query a TCP port for identification. An attacker can access private information about the user from the ID server.

CDP--If a large number of Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) packets are sent to the router, the available memory of the router can be consumed, causing the router to crash. NTP--Without authentication or access-control, Network Time Protocol (NTP) is insecure and can be used by an attacker to send NTP packets to crash or overload the router. (If you want to turn on NTP, you must configure NTP authentication using Message Digest 5 (MD5) and the ntp access-group command. If NTP is enabled globally, disable it on all interfaces on which it is not needed.)

Source Routing--Provided only for debugging purposes, so source routing should be disabled in all other cases. Otherwise, packets may slip away from some of the access control mechanisms that they should have gone through.

Impact:

After enabling this feature, the following options in which to secure access to the router are available to the user:

If a text banner does not exist, users are prompted to add a banner. This feature provides the following sample banner:

Authorized access only This system is the property of ABC Enterprise Disconnect IMMEDIATELY if you are not an authorized user! Contact [email protected] +99 876 543210 for help. The login and password (preferably a secret password, if supported) are configured on the console, AUX, vty, and tty lines. The transport input and transport output commands are also configured on all of these lines. (Telnet and secure shell (SSH) are the only valid transport methods.) The exec-timeout command is configured on the console and AUX as 10.

When the image on the device is a crypto image, AutoSecure enables SSH and secure copy (SCP) for access and file transfer to and from the router. The timeout seconds and authentication-retries integer options for the ip ssh command are configured to a minimum number. (Telnet and FTP are not affected by this operation and remain operational.)

If the AutoSecure user specifies that their device does not use Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), one of the following functions occur: In interactive mode, the user is asked whether to disable SNMP regardless of the values of the community strings, which act like passwords to regulate access to the agent on the router. In non-interact mode, SNMP is disabled if the community string is 'public' or 'private.'

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

How to Configure AutoSecure

Hostname#(config)auto secure {management | forwarding} {no-interact | full} {ntp | login | ssh |firewall | tcp-intercept}

Configuring Enhanced Security Access to the Router

Hostname#(config)enable password {password | [encryption-type ] encrypted-password }
Hostname#security authentication failure rate {**threshold-rate**} log

Default Value:

AutoSecure not configured

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/9270

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6

Plugin: Cisco

Control ID: 2a5f50aae997f07f4acfe904e04c493d582d8945b8d10ec25f3f42c030ab06cf