SNMP community with write access
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
Anyone who learns the community string can change the switch's configuration over SNMP, and SNMP v1 and v2c send it in clear text.
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.
- Remove read-write communities. Use SNMPv3 with authentication and privacy for any management system that must write.
Command line
Cisco IOS-XE CLI
configure terminalno snmp-server community <community>snmp-server group <snmp-group> v3 privsnmp-server user <snmp-user> <snmp-group> v3 auth sha <auth-password> priv aes 128 <priv-password>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; copy running-config startup-config saves it, with no separate commit. Read every line first.
Read it back
show snmp usershow snmp community
Values to fill in5
- <community>
- The community to remove or replace
- <snmp-group>
- A name for the SNMPv3 group
- <snmp-user>
- A name for the SNMPv3 user
- <auth-password>
- The SNMPv3 authentication passphrase
- <priv-password>
- The SNMPv3 privacy passphrase
Before you type it2
- Written from the Cisco IOS-XE 17 and NX-OS 9 and 10 command references and not run on a device: read each line before you paste it.
- On a Nexus (NX-OS) switch the same change is typed with NX-OS syntax; check the NX-OS configuration guide for the equivalent command.
How to confirm the fix
- show snmp community lists no read-write community.
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 IOS 17.x Benchmark v2.0.0
Covers the whole recommendation
Where a control aligns with a recommendation of the CIS Cisco IOS 17.x Benchmark v2.0.0, that recommendation is cited as a reference. Only that version was checked. A reference is not a certification.
See it on your own firewall
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