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ASA-MGT-023MediumCisco ASACIS 1.1.5

No password policy

At a glance

Base severity

Medium

Area

Identity and Authentication

Platform

Cisco ASA

Evidence level

Fact1.00

Benchmark reference

CIS 1.1.5

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

Without a minimum length and complexity, local passwords can be short and easy to guess.

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.

  1. In ASDM: Configuration > Device Management > Users/AAA > Password Policy, set minimum length 15 and the character class minimums. Apply and save.
  2. On the CLI: password-policy minimum-length 15, password-policy minimum-uppercase 1, password-policy minimum-lowercase 1, password-policy minimum-numeric 1, password-policy minimum-special 1, and write memory.

Command line

Cisco ASA CLI

configure terminalpassword-policy minimum-length 15password-policy minimum-uppercase 1password-policy minimum-lowercase 1password-policy minimum-numeric 1password-policy minimum-special 1endwrite 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 password-policy
Before you type it2
  • 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>).

How to confirm the fix

  • Run show running-config password-policy.

Limits

  • No limitation is recorded for this control beyond the one that applies to all of them: it reads a configuration export.

Compliance references

1.1.5

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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