The Cisco switch must be configured to encrypt SNMP messages using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm.

Without the strong encryption that is provided by the SNMP Version 3 User-based Security Model (USM), an unauthorized user can gain access to network management information that can be used to create a network outage.

Review the Cisco switch configuration to verify that it encrypts SNMP messages using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm as shown in the example below:

snmp-server group V3GROUP v3 priv read V3READ write V3WRITE snmp-server view V3READ iso included snmp-server view V3WRITE iso included snmp-server host x.x.x.x version 3 auth V3USER

Encryption used by the SNMP users can be viewed via the show snmp user command as shown in the example below:

R4#show snmp user

User name: V3USER Engine ID: 800000090300C2042B540000 storage-type: nonvolatile active Authentication Protocol: SHA Privacy Protocol: AES256 Group-name: V3GROUP

If the Cisco switch is not configured to encrypt SNMP messages using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm, this is a finding.

Configure the Cisco switch to encrypt SNMP messages using a FIPS 140-2 approved algorithm as shown in the example below:

SW4(config)#snmp-server group V3GROUP v3 priv read V3READ write V3WRITE SW4(config)#snmp-server user V3USER V3GROUP v3 auth sha xxxxxx priv aes 256 xxxxxx