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The Cisco switch must be configured to protect against known types of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks by employing organization-defined security safeguards.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-220609 CISC-ND-001220 SV-220609r998515_rule Medium
Description
DoS is a condition when a resource is not available for legitimate users. When this occurs, the organization either cannot accomplish its mission or must operate at degraded capacity. This requirement addresses the configuration of network devices to mitigate the impact of DoS attacks that have occurred or are ongoing on device availability. For each network device, known and potential DoS attacks must be identified and solutions for each type implemented. A variety of technologies exist to limit or, in some cases, eliminate the effects of DoS attacks (e.g., limiting processes or restricting the number of sessions the device opens at one time). Employing increased capacity and bandwidth, combined with service redundancy, may reduce the susceptibility to some DoS attacks. The security safeguards cannot be defined at the DoD level because they vary according to the capabilities of the individual network devices and the security controls applied on the adjacent networks (e.g., firewalls performing packet filtering to block DoS attacks).
STIG Date
Cisco IOS Switch NDM Security Technical Implementation Guide 2024-06-10

Details

Check Text ( C-22324r507873_chk )
Review the Cisco switch configuration to verify that it protects against known types of DoS attacks by employing organization-defined security safeguards.

Step 1: Verify traffic types have been classified based on importance levels. The following is an example configuration:

class-map match-all CoPP_CRITICAL
match access-group name CoPP_CRITICAL
class-map match-any CoPP_IMPORTANT
match access-group name CoPP_IMPORTANT
match protocol arp
class-map match-all CoPP_NORMAL
match access-group name CoPP_NORMAL
class-map match-any CoPP_UNDESIRABLE
match access-group name CoPP_UNDESIRABLE
class-map match-all CoPP_DEFAULT
match access-group name CoPP_DEFAULT

Step 2: Review the access control lists (ACLs) referenced by the class-maps to determine if the traffic is being classified appropriately. The following is an example configuration:

ip access-list extended CoPP_CRITICAL
remark our control plane adjacencies are critical
permit ospf host [OSPF neighbor A] any
permit ospf host [OSPF neighbor B] any
permit pim host [PIM neighbor A] any
permit pim host [PIM neighbor B] any
permit pim host [RP addr] any
permit igmp any 224.0.0.0 15.255.255.255
permit tcp host [BGP neighbor] eq bgp host [local BGP addr]
permit tcp host [BGP neighbor] host [local BGP addr] eq bgp
deny ip any any

ip access-list extended CoPP_IMPORTANT
permit tcp host [TACACS server] eq tacacs any
permit tcp [management subnet] 0.0.0.255 any eq 22
permit udp host [SNMP manager] any eq snmp
permit udp host [NTP server] eq ntp any
deny ip any any

ip access-list extended CoPP_NORMAL
remark we will want to rate limit ICMP traffic
permit icmp any any echo
permit icmp any any echo-reply
permit icmp any any time-exceeded
permit icmp any any unreachable
deny ip any any

ip access-list extended CoPP_UNDESIRABLE
remark other management plane traffic that should not be received
permit udp any any eq ntp
permit udp any any eq snmp
permit tcp any any eq 22
permit tcp any any eq 23
remark other control plane traffic not configured on switch
permit eigrp any any
permit udp any any eq rip
deny ip any any

ip access-list extended CoPP_DEFAULT
permit ip any any

Note: Explicitly defining undesirable traffic with ACL entries enables the network operator to collect statistics. Excessive Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) packets can potentially monopolize Route Processor resources, starving other important processes. Currently, ARP is the only Layer 2 protocol that can be specifically classified using the match protocol command.

Step 3: Review the policy-map to determine if the traffic is being policed appropriately for each classification. The following is an example configuration:

policy-map CONTROL_PLANE_POLICY
class CoPP_CRITICAL
police 512000 8000 conform-action transmit exceed-action transmit
class CoPP_IMPORTANT
police 256000 4000 conform-action transmit exceed-action drop
class CoPP_NORMAL
police 128000 2000 conform-action transmit exceed-action drop
class CoPP_UNDESIRABLE
police 8000 1000 conform-action drop exceed-action drop
class CoPP_DEFAULT
police 64000 1000 conform-action transmit exceed-action drop

Step 4: Verify that the Control Plane Policing (CoPP) policy is enabled. The following is an example configuration:

control-plane
service-policy input CONTROL_PLANE_POLICY

Note: Control Plane Protection (CPPr) can be used to filter as well as police control plane traffic destined to the RP. CPPr is very similar to CoPP and has the ability to filter and police traffic using finer granularity by dividing the aggregate control plane into three separate categories: 1) host, 2) transit, and 3) CEF-exception. Hence, a separate policy-map could be configured for each traffic category.

If the Cisco switch is not configured to protect against known types of DoS attacks by employing organization-defined security safeguards, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-22313r998514_fix)
Configure the Cisco switch to protect against known types of DoS attacks on the route processor. Implementing a CoPP policy as shown in the example below is a best practice method.

Step 1: Configure ACL specific traffic types:

SW1(config)#ip access-list extended CoPP_CRITICAL
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#remark our control plane adjacencies are critical
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit ospf host x.x.x.x any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit ospf host x.x.x.x any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit pim host x.x.x.x any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit pim host x.x.x.x any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit igmp any 224.0.0.0 15.255.255.255
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit tcp host x.x.x.x eq bgp host x.x.x.x
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#deny ip any any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#exit

SW1(config)#ip access-list extended CoPP_IMPORTANT
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit tcp host x.x.x.x eq tacacs any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit tcp x.x.x.x 0.0.0.255 any eq 22
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit udp host x.x.x.x any eq snmp
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit udp host x.x.x.x eq ntp any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#deny ip any any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#exit

SW1(config)#ip access-list extended CoPP_NORMAL
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#remark we will want to rate limit ICMP traffic
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit icmp any any echo
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit icmp any any echo-reply
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit icmp any any time-exceeded
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit icmp any any unreachable
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#deny ip any any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#exit

SW1(config)#ip access-list extended CoPP_UNDESIRABLE
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#remark management plane traffic that should not be received
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit udp any any eq ntp
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit udp any any eq snmp
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit tcp any any eq 22
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit tcp any any eq 23
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#remark control plane traffic not configured on switch
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit eigrp any any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit udp any any eq rip
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#deny ip any any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#exit
SW1(config)#ip access-list extended CoPP_DEFAULT
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#permit ip any any
SW1(config-ext-nacl)#exit

Step 2: Configure class-maps referencing each of the ACLs:

SW1(config)#class-map match-all CoPP_CRITICAL
SW1(config-cmap)#match access-group name CoPP_CRITICAL
SW1(config-cmap)#class-map match-any CoPP_IMPORTANT
SW1(config-cmap)#match access-group name CoPP_IMPORTANT
SW1(config-cmap)#match protocol arp
SW1(config-cmap)#class-map match-all CoPP_NORMAL
SW1(config-cmap)#match access-group name CoPP_NORMAL
SW1(config-cmap)#class-map match-any CoPP_UNDESIRABLE
SW1(config-cmap)#match access-group name CoPP_UNDESIRABLE
SW1(config-cmap)#class-map match-all CoPP_DEFAULT
SW1(config-cmap)#match access-group name CoPP_DEFAULT
SW1(config-cmap)#exit

Step 3: Configure a policy-map referencing the configured class-maps and apply appropriate bandwidth allowance and policing attributes:

SW1(config)#policy-map CONTROL_PLANE_POLICY
SW1(config-pmap)#class CoPP_CRITICAL
SW1(config-pmap-c)#police 512000 8000 conform-action transmit exceed-action transmit
SW1(config-pmap-c-police)#class CoPP_IMPORTANT
SW1(config-pmap-c)#police 256000 4000 conform-action transmit exceed-action drop
SW1(config-pmap-c-police)#class CoPP_NORMAL
SW1(config-pmap-c)#police 128000 2000 conform-action transmit exceed-action drop
SW1(config-pmap-c-police)#class CoPP_UNDESIRABLE
SW1(config-pmap-c)#police 8000 1000 conform-action drop exceed-action drop
SW1(config-pmap-c-police)#class CoPP_DEFAULT
SW1(config-pmap-c)#police 64000 1000 conform-action transmit exceed-action drop
SW1(config-pmap-c-police)#exit
SW1(config-pmap-c)#exit
SW1(config-pmap)#exit

Step 4: Apply the policy-map to the control plane:

SW1(config)#control-plane
SW1(config-cp)#service-policy input CONTROL_PLANE_POLICY
SW1(config-cp)#end