GlobalProtect gateway is configured without a client certificate requirement
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
Without a certificate profile in the configuration, nothing in front of the gateway distinguishes an enrolled device from anything else that can reach it, so any device that reaches it can attempt to authenticate. A client certificate moves that boundary: a device without an enrolled certificate cannot complete the connection.
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.
- Attach a certificate profile to the gateway client authentication.
- Issue device certificates through an existing enrolment path before enforcing it.
- Keep the authentication profile in place, because the certificate identifies the device and not the person.
Command line
PAN-OS CLI, standalone firewall, vsys1
set vsys vsys1 global-protect global-protect-gateway <object-name> client-auth <auth-config> certificate-profile <certificate-profile>An example. Values in angle brackets are yours to supply; a finding on your own export fills in the names it read. Nothing here commits. Review the candidate configuration, then commit it yourself.
Read it back
show vsys vsys1 global-protect global-protect-gateway <object-name>Values to fill in3
- <object-name>
- The object's name, as it appears on your firewall
- <auth-config>
- The client authentication entry to change
- <certificate-profile>
- The certificate profile to require
Before you type it1
- Clients with no client certificate will be refused once this is in place.
How to confirm the fix
- Confirm the gateway reports a certificate profile on its client authentication.
- Confirm an enrolled device connects and an unenrolled one is refused.
Limits
- The identity provider behind the authentication profile may enforce a second factor of its own.
Compliance references
No benchmark recommendation is mapped to this control in this version.
More in Remote access VPN
- PAN-SEC-067GlobalProtect agent configuration saves user credentials
- PAN-SEC-068GlobalProtect gateway excludes the default route from the tunnel
- PAN-SEC-111GlobalProtect presents a certificate that is expired, expiring or self-signed
- PAN-SEC-112GlobalProtect accepts a TLS version below 1.2
- PAN-SEC-168Two agent tunnel profiles draw from the same or overlapping addresses
- PAN-SEC-169An agent tunnel profile matches any user beside other profiles
See it on your own firewall
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