The NSX Distributed Logical Router must manage excess bandwidth to limit the effects of packet flooding types of denial of service (DoS) attacks.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-69135	VNSX-RT-000019	SV-83739r1_rule		Medium

Description
Denial of service is a condition when a resource is not available for legitimate users. Packet flooding DDoS attacks are referred to as volumetric attacks and have the objective of overloading a network or circuit to deny or seriously degrade performance, which denies access to the services that normally traverse the network or circuit. Volumetric attacks have become relatively easy to launch using readily available tools such as Low Orbit Ion Cannon or by botnets. Measures to mitigate the effects of a successful volumetric attack must be taken to ensure that sufficient capacity is available for mission-critical traffic. Managing capacity may include, for example, establishing selected network usage priorities or quotas and enforcing them using rate limiting, Quality of Service (QoS), or other resource reservation control methods. These measures may also mitigate the effects of sudden decreases in network capacity that are the result of accidental or intentional physical damage to telecommunications facilities (such as cable cuts or weather-related outages).

Description

Denial of service is a condition when a resource is not available for legitimate users. Packet flooding DDoS attacks are referred to as volumetric attacks and have the objective of overloading a network or circuit to deny or seriously degrade performance, which denies access to the services that normally traverse the network or circuit. Volumetric attacks have become relatively easy to launch using readily available tools such as Low Orbit Ion Cannon or by botnets. Measures to mitigate the effects of a successful volumetric attack must be taken to ensure that sufficient capacity is available for mission-critical traffic. Managing capacity may include, for example, establishing selected network usage priorities or quotas and enforcing them using rate limiting, Quality of Service (QoS), or other resource reservation control methods. These measures may also mitigate the effects of sudden decreases in network capacity that are the result of accidental or intentional physical damage to telecommunications facilities (such as cable cuts or weather-related outages).

STIG	Date
VMware NSX Distributed Logical Router Security Technical Implementation Guide	2016-06-27

Details

Check Text ( C-69573r1_chk )
Verify the traffic shaping policies are properly configured to manage excess bandwidth. Log into vSphere Web Client with credentials authorized for administration navigate and select Networking >> select the respective VDS under the appropriate datacenter >> Click the dropdown to expand the list of portgroups >> select the appropriate portgroup for your network. Navigate to >> Manage >> Settings >> Properties >> Edit >> Traffic Shaping Verify the necessary values are configured to reserve bandwidth for applications in the event of bandwidth congestion. Navigate to >> Manage >> Settings >> Properties >> Edit >> Traffic filtering and marking >> Verify the necessary values for DSCP are configured to mark bandwidth for applications in the event of a DoS attack. Select checkbox for "DSCP value: Update DSCP tag" >> enter in a number between 0 and 63. Select "+" symbol under Traffic qualifiers with "New System Traffic Qualifier" and select System traffic type >> "OK". Select "OK" to accept new Network Traffic Rule. If the traffic shaping and QoS policies are not properly configured to manage excess bandwidth and to reserve bandwidth for critical applications in the event of bandwidth congestion, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-69573r1_chk )

Verify the traffic shaping policies are properly configured to manage excess bandwidth.

Log into vSphere Web Client with credentials authorized for administration navigate and select Networking >> select the respective VDS under the appropriate datacenter >> Click the dropdown to expand the list of portgroups >> select the appropriate portgroup for your network.

Navigate to >> Manage >> Settings >> Properties >> Edit >> Traffic Shaping

Verify the necessary values are configured to reserve bandwidth for applications in the event of bandwidth congestion.

Navigate to >> Manage >> Settings >> Properties >> Edit >> Traffic filtering and marking >> Verify the necessary values for DSCP are configured to mark bandwidth for applications in the event of a DoS attack.

Select checkbox for "DSCP value: Update DSCP tag" >> enter in a number between 0 and 63.
Select "+" symbol under Traffic qualifiers with "New System Traffic Qualifier" and select System traffic type >> "OK".
Select "OK" to accept new Network Traffic Rule.

If the traffic shaping and QoS policies are not properly configured to manage excess bandwidth and to reserve bandwidth for critical applications in the event of bandwidth congestion, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-75321r1_fix)
Log into vSphere Web Client with credentials authorized for administration, navigate and select Networking >> select the respective VDS under the appropriate datacenter >> Click the dropdown to expand the list of portgroups >> select the appropriate portgroup for your network. Navigate to >> Manage >> Settings >> Properties >> Edit >> Traffic Shaping Enable traffic shaping for the portgroup. Configure average bandwidth, peak bandwidth, and burst size levels as appropriate to provide allocations sufficient to limit the effect of DoS attacks. Navigate to >> Manage >> Settings >> Properties >> Edit >> Traffic filtering and marking Verify the necessary values for DSCP are configured to provide QoS markings to preserve bandwidth for critical applications during periods of congestion. Select checkbox for "DSCP value: Update DSCP tag" >> enter in a number between 0 and 63. Select "+" symbol under Traffic qualifiers with "New System Traffic Qualifier" Select System traffic type >> "OK". Select "OK" to accept new Network Traffic Rule.

Fix Text (F-75321r1_fix)

Log into vSphere Web Client with credentials authorized for administration, navigate and select Networking >> select the respective VDS under the appropriate datacenter >> Click the dropdown to expand the list of portgroups >> select the appropriate portgroup for your network.

Navigate to >> Manage >> Settings >> Properties >> Edit >> Traffic Shaping
Enable traffic shaping for the portgroup.
Configure average bandwidth, peak bandwidth, and burst size levels as appropriate to provide allocations sufficient to limit the effect of DoS attacks.

Navigate to >> Manage >> Settings >> Properties >> Edit >> Traffic filtering and marking
Verify the necessary values for DSCP are configured to provide QoS markings to preserve bandwidth for critical applications during periods of congestion.

Select checkbox for "DSCP value: Update DSCP tag" >> enter in a number between 0 and 63.
Select "+" symbol under Traffic qualifiers with "New System Traffic Qualifier"
Select System traffic type >> "OK".
Select "OK" to accept new Network Traffic Rule.