JUEX-NM-000330 - The Juniper EX switch must be configured to only store cryptographic representations of passwords.

Information

Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised.

Network devices must enforce cryptographic representations of passwords when storing passwords in databases, configuration files, and log files. Passwords must be protected at all times; using a strong one-way hashing encryption algorithm with a salt is the standard method for providing a means to validate a password without having to store the actual password.

Performance and time required to access are factors that must be considered, and the one-way hash is the most feasible means of securing the password and providing an acceptable measure of password security. If passwords are stored in clear text, they can be plainly read and easily compromised.

In many instances, verifying the user knows a password is performed using a password verifier. In its simplest form, a password verifier is a computational function that is capable of creating a hash of a password and determining if the value provided by the user matches the stored hash.

Solution

Configure the network device, and any associated authentication servers, to store all passwords using cryptographic representations.

set system login password format <sha-256|sha-512>
Note: Although Junos supports the SHA-1 hashing algorithm, it is included only for backwards compatibility when restoring a previous configuration from an older version.

Configure all associated databases, configuration files, and log files to use only encrypted representations of passwords, and that no password strings are readable/discernable.

Potential locations include the local file system where configurations and events are stored, or in a network device-related database table.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_Juniper_EX_Switches_Y24M07_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1)(d), CAT|I, CCI|CCI-004062, Rule-ID|SV-253910r997746_rule, STIG-ID|JUEX-NM-000330, Vuln-ID|V-253910

Plugin: Juniper

Control ID: 89c4a5a7632de52e18c88317295db5ebf8aa115f39afab8d412c37f44e5534b7