The Arista network device must be configured to implement cryptographic mechanisms using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
high	V-255961	SRG-APP-000412-NDM-000331	ARST-ND-000700	SV-255961r961557_rule	2025-02-20	2

Description
This requires the use of secure protocols instead of their unsecured counterparts, such as SSH instead of telnet, SCP instead of FTP, and HTTPS instead of HTTP. If unsecured protocols (lacking cryptographic mechanisms) are used for sessions, the contents of those sessions will be susceptible to eavesdropping, potentially putting sensitive data (including administrator passwords) at risk of compromise and potentially allowing hijacking of maintenance sessions.

Description

This requires the use of secure protocols instead of their unsecured counterparts, such as SSH instead of telnet, SCP instead of FTP, and HTTPS instead of HTTP. If unsecured protocols (lacking cryptographic mechanisms) are used for sessions, the contents of those sessions will be susceptible to eavesdropping, potentially putting sensitive data (including administrator passwords) at risk of compromise and potentially allowing hijacking of maintenance sessions.

ℹ️ Check
Validate that a FIPS validated SSH encryption algorithm is selected. NOTE: AES-CBC algorithms have been considered compromised and are no longer recommended for cryptographic algorithms. AES-CTR and AES-GCM are both superior algorithms and are recommended. sh run \| section management ssh cipher aes256-ctr aes512-ctr aes128-ctr If the Arista network device is not configured to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm, this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Validate that a FIPS validated SSH encryption algorithm is selected. NOTE: AES-CBC algorithms have been considered compromised and are no longer recommended for cryptographic algorithms. AES-CTR and AES-GCM are both superior algorithms and are recommended. sh run | section management ssh cipher aes256-ctr aes512-ctr aes128-ctr If the Arista network device is not configured to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Configure the Arista network device to use FIPS-approved algorithms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions. switch(config)#management ssh switch(config-mgmt-ssh)#cipher aes256-ctr aes512-ctr aes128-ctr