Console timeout too long
At a glance
Base severity
Area
Platform
Evidence level
Benchmark reference
Reads the export, not the device
ConfigProof reads a configuration export. This control is evaluated against the objects in that file, and it reports what the file says. It does not connect to the device and sees no traffic, so a finding here describes the configuration, not what the firewall is doing right now.
Why it matters
A console session left open on an unattended device gives whoever walks up an administrator prompt.
How to fix it
Web interface
The steps below are written for the web interface. A finding raised on your own export carries the same steps with your object names filled in.
- In ASDM: Configuration > Device Management > Management Access > Command Line (CLI) > Console Timeout, set 5. Apply and save.
- On the CLI: console timeout 5, and write memory.
Command line
Cisco ASA CLI
configure terminalconsole timeout 5endwrite memory
An example. Values in angle brackets are yours to supply; a finding on your own export fills in the names it read. Typed in configuration mode; write memory saves it, with no separate commit. Read every line first.
Read it back
show running-config console timeoutBefore you type it3
- Written from the ASA 9.x command reference and not run on a device: read each line before you paste it.
- In multiple context mode, type it in the context it applies to (changeto context <name>).
- In multiple context mode, failover, clustering and resource classes are configured in the system execution space.
How to confirm the fix
- Run show running-config console timeout.
Limits
- No limitation is recorded for this control beyond the one that applies to all of them: it reads a configuration export.
Compliance references
CIS Cisco ASA 9.x Firewall Benchmark v1.1.0
Covers the whole recommendation
Where a control aligns with a recommendation of the CIS Cisco ASA 9.x Firewall Benchmark v1.1.0, that recommendation is cited as a reference. Only that version was checked. A reference is not a certification.
More in Administrators and Access
- ASA-MGT-004Management on a data interface
- ASA-MGT-005SSH version 1 allowed
- ASA-MGT-006Weak TLS for management and SSL VPN
- ASA-MGT-007SSH key exchange with SHA-1
- ASA-MGT-009SSH timeout too long
- ASA-MGT-010ASDM idle timeout too long
- ASA-MGT-011Weak or default stored password
- ASA-MGT-012Default or generic local account
See it on your own firewall
One complete analysis of one firewall costs nothing. A card is required and nothing is charged.