2.1.6 Key chains

Information

Keychain management is a common method of authentication to configure shared secrets on all entities that exchange secrets such as keys, before establishing trust with each other. Routing protocols and network management applications on Cisco IOS XR software often use authentication to enhance security while communicating with peers.

The keychain by itself has no relevance; therefore, it must be used by an application that needs to communicate by using the keys (for authentication) with its peers. The keychain provides a secure mechanism to handle the keys and rollover based on the lifetime. Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), and Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) use the keychain to implement a hitless key rollover for authentication. BGP uses TCP authentication, which enables the authentication option and sends the Message Authentication Code (MAC) based on the cryptographic algorithm configured for the keychain.

Solution

IOSXR(config)#key chain {key_chain_name}
IOSXR(config-CHAIN)#key {key_id}
IOSXR(config-CHAIN-1)#key-string {key_string}

Impact:

This allows the configuration of routing protocol authentication to be made earier.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/10473

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL

References: 800-53|AC-2(1), CSCv7|16.2

Plugin: Cisco

Control ID: af6824a15e8d392253664d566c83037c7cadc5a5e7288bfd6df8b1f868f23bc3