The Cisco switch must be configured to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
high	V-220608	SRG-APP-000412-NDM-000331	CISC-ND-001210	SV-220608r961557_rule	2025-02-20	3

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 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 allowing hijacking of maintenance sessions.

ℹ️ Check
Review the Cisco switch configuration to verify that it implements cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm as shown in the example below: ip ssh version 2 ip ssh server algorithm encryption aes256-ctr aes192-ctr aes128-ctr If the switch 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

Review the Cisco switch configuration to verify that it implements cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm as shown in the example below: ip ssh version 2 ip ssh server algorithm encryption aes256-ctr aes192-ctr aes128-ctr If the switch 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 Cisco switch to implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of remote maintenance sessions using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm as shown in the example below: SW1(config)#ip ssh server algorithm encryption aes256-ctr aes192-ctr aes128-ctr