The Cisco switch must be configured to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-220504	CISC-ND-001210	SV-220504r961557_rule		High

Description
This requires the use of secure protocols instead of their unsecured counterparts, such as SSH instead of telnet, SCP instead of FTP, and HTTPS instead of HTTP. If unsecured protocols (lacking cryptographic mechanisms) are used for sessions, the contents of those sessions will be susceptible to eavesdropping, potentially putting sensitive data (including administrator passwords) at risk of compromise and potentially allowing hijacking of maintenance sessions.

Description

This requires the use of secure protocols instead of their unsecured counterparts, such as SSH instead of telnet, SCP instead of FTP, and HTTPS instead of HTTP. If unsecured protocols (lacking cryptographic mechanisms) are used for sessions, the contents of those sessions will be susceptible to eavesdropping, potentially putting sensitive data (including administrator passwords) at risk of compromise and potentially allowing hijacking of maintenance sessions.

STIG	Date
Cisco NX OS Switch NDM Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-06-06

Details

Check Text ( C-22219r929035_chk )
Verify that FIPS mode is enabled as shown in the example below: show fips status Note: Cisco NX-OS software supports only SSH version 2 (SSHv2). Beginning in Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1, SSH runs in FIPS mode. Source: Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Security Configuration Guide, Release 6.x. If the switch is not configured to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-22219r929035_chk )

Verify that FIPS mode is enabled as shown in the example below:

show fips status

Note: Cisco NX-OS software supports only SSH version 2 (SSHv2). Beginning in Cisco NX-OS Release 5.1, SSH runs in FIPS mode. Source: Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Security Configuration Guide, Release 6.x.

If the switch is not configured to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-22208r929036_fix)
Enable FIPS mode via the command "fips mode enable". Note: The switch will require a reboot for FIPS mode to be enabled.