SNMP v1 or v2c community
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 sees the traffic reads the community and, with it, the controller's state.
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.
- Replace the communities with SNMPv3 users with authentication and privacy: snmp-server group GROUP v3 priv; snmp-server user USER GROUP v3 auth sha AUTH priv aes 128 PRIV; then no snmp-server community NAME.
- Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Configuration Best Practices, section SNMP recommended settings.
Command line
Cisco Catalyst 9800 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; write memory 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 it1
- Written from the Cisco Catalyst 9800 configuration guide for IOS XE 17 and not run on a controller: read each line before you paste it.
How to confirm the fix
- show snmp community lists no community; show snmp user lists the v3 users with privacy.
Limits
- No limitation is recorded for this control beyond the one that applies to all of them: it reads a configuration export.
Compliance references
No benchmark recommendation is mapped to this control in this version.
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