SV-215845r961557: The Cisco router must be configured to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions. | Cisco IOS XE Router NDM STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

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

Description

Discussion Text

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.

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-003123SV-105467V-96329

References

DPMS Target Cisco IOS XE Router NDM DISA DPMS Target Cisco IOS XE Router NDM 4020

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

Review the Cisco router configuration to verify that it is compliant with this requirement.

SSH Example

ip ssh version 2
ip ssh server algorithm encryption aes256-ctr aes192-ctr aes128-ctr

If the router is not configured to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm, this is a finding.

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

Assessment Script Powered by AISandbox-executed

A standalone Shell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked and actually executed in an isolated sandbox (not the real system this checks) — confirmed to run without errors.

#!/bin/sh
# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.cisco.iosxe:def:134


if [ ! -f /tmp/cisco_config ]; then
    echo "FAIL"
    exit 1
fi

if grep -q "^ ip ssh version 2$" /tmp/cisco_config && \
   grep -q "^ ip ssh server algorithm encryption.*$" /tmp/cisco_config && \
  ! grep -q "^ ip ssh server algorithm encryption.*3des.*-cbc.*" /tmp/cisco_config
then
    echo "PASS"
    exit 0
else
    echo "FAIL"
    exit 1
fi

Remediation

Configure the Cisco router to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm as shown in the examples below.

SSH Example

R1(config)#ip ssh server algorithm encryption aes256-ctr aes192-ctr aes128-ctr