CISC-RT-000040 - The Cisco router must be configured to use encryption for routing protocol authentication - BGP

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Information

A rogue router could send a fictitious routing update to convince a site's perimeter router to send traffic to an incorrect or even a rogue destination. This diverted traffic could be analyzed to learn confidential information about the site's network or used to disrupt the network's ability to communicate with other networks. This is known as a 'traffic attraction attack' and is prevented by configuring neighbor router authentication for routing updates. However, using clear-text authentication provides little benefit since an attacker can intercept traffic and view the authentication key. This would allow the attacker to use the authentication key in an attack.

This requirement applies to all IPv4 and IPv6 protocols that are used to exchange routing or packet forwarding information; this includes all Interior Gateway Protocols (such as OSPF, EIGRP, and IS-IS) and Exterior Gateway Protocols (such as BGP), MPLS-related protocols (such as LDP), and multicast-related protocols.

Solution

Configure all routing protocol authentications to encrypt the authentication key.

BGP Example

R1(config)#router bgp nn
R1(config-router)#neighbor x.x.x.x password xxxxxx

EIGRP Example

R2(config)#int g0/1
R2(config-if)#ip authentication mode eigrp 1 md5
R2(config-if)#ip authentication key-chain eigrp 1 EIGRP_KEY_CHAIN

IS-IS Example

R5(config)#int g0/1
R5(config-if)#isis authentication mode md5
R5(config-if)#isis authentication key-chain ISIS_KEY_CHAIN

OSPF Example

R5(config)#key chain OSPF_KEY_CHAIN
R5(config-keychain)#key 1
R5(config-keychain-key)#key-string xxxxxx
R5(config-keychain-key)#cryptographic-algorithm hmac-sha-256
R5(config-keychain-key)#exit
R5(config-keychain-key)#end
R5(config)#interface GigabitEthernet0/2
R5(config-if)#ip ospf authentication key-chain OSPF_KEY_CHAIN

RIP Example

R2(config)#int g1/0
R2(config-if)#ip rip authentication mode md5
R2(config-if)#ip rip authentication key-chain RIP_KEY_CHAIN

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_Cisco_IOS_Router_Y23M07_STIG.zip

Item Details

References: CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000803, Rule-ID|SV-216554r892362_rule, STIG-ID|CISC-RT-000040, STIG-Legacy|SV-105647, STIG-Legacy|V-96509, Vuln-ID|V-216554

Plugin: Cisco

Control ID: 7f9ed15ffdc8fa71e8b4e60b9514f2cdf93d4988c56517cabb09321123e331df