1.6.3 Ensure 'RSA key pair' is greater than or equal to 2048 bits

Information

Generates an RSA key pair used by SSH protocol of at least 2048 bits

Rationale:

Secure Shell (SSH) is a secure remote-login protocol. The ASA allows SSH connections to the ASA for management purposes and supports the SSH DES and 3DES ciphers. SSH uses a key-exchange method based on Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) public-key. Since RSA 1024-bit keys are likely to become crackable, it is recommended to have RSA keys of at least 2048 bits.

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

Solution

* Step 1: Acquire the enterprise standard RSA key size greater or equal than 2048 bits
* Step 2: If the audit procedure revealed existing non-compliant key pairs, run the following to remove them:

HOSTNAME(CONFIG)#CRYPTO KEY ZEROIZE RSA

* Step 3: Run the following to generate compliant RSA key pair:

HOSTNAME(CONFIG)# CRYPTO KEY GENERATE RSA MODULUS_<enterprise_RSA_key_size>_

* Step 4: Run the following to save the RSA keys to persistent Flash memory

hostname(config)# WRITE MEMORY

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/1903

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|SC-13

Plugin: Cisco

Control ID: 79a715bfebd64cdb769720083f7531c294e8065c41667df0a81b12e45c12545f