Default or generic local account
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
Well-known account names are the first ones attackers try in password guessing.
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 > Users/AAA > User Accounts, add a named administrator, then delete the generic account. Apply and save.
- On the CLI: username <named-admin> password <strong> privilege 15, then no username <account>, and write memory.
Command line
Cisco ASA CLI
configure terminalusername <named-admin> password <password> privilege 15no username <account>endwrite 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 usernameValues to fill in3
- <named-admin>
- A named administrator account
- <password>
- A strong password
- <account>
- The local account
Before 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>).
- Confirm your own session is not using the service you are turning off.
How to confirm the fix
- Log in with the named account before deleting the generic one.
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 part of the 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.
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