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ConfigProof

All controls

SW-SEC-002HighCisco Catalyst and Nexus

SNMP community with a well-known name

At a glance

Base severity

High

Area

Logging and Integrations

Platform

Cisco Catalyst and Nexus

Evidence level

Fact1.00

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

Any device on a network that reaches the switch can read its configuration and state over SNMP, and write it if the community is read-write.

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. Remove the community and move monitoring to SNMPv3 with authentication and privacy; if v2c must stay, use a long random community limited by an access list.

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 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 well-known community name.

Limits

  • A community already replaced by a Collector's redaction cannot be judged; it is counted as not read.

Compliance references

No benchmark recommendation is mapped to this control in this version.

More in Logging and Integrations

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