The Cisco SNA appliance must be configured to authenticate SNMP messages using a FIPS-validated Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC).

Without authenticating devices, unidentified or unknown devices may be introduced, thereby facilitating malicious activity. Bidirectional authentication provides stronger safeguards to validate the identity of other devices for connections that are of greater risk.

A local connection is any connection with a device communicating without the use of a network. A network connection is any connection with a device that communicates through a network (e.g., local area or wide area network, internet). A remote connection is any connection with a device communicating through an external network (e.g., the internet).

Because of the challenges of applying this requirement on a large scale, organizations are encouraged to only apply the requirement to those limited number (and type) of devices that truly need to support this capability.

Review the Cisco SNA appliance configuration to verify SNMP messages are authenticated using a FIPS-validated Keyed-HMAC.

Navigate to SNA Dashboard >> Configure >> Central Management >> Inventory >> Actions... >> Edit Appliance Configuration >> Network Services.

Verify "SNMP Agent" is "Enabled".

Verify "SNMP Versions" is "3".

Verify "Authentication Protocol" is set to "HMAC192_SHA256" or better.

If the Cisco SNA appliance is not configured to authenticate SNMP messages using a FIPS-validated HMAC, this is a finding.

Configure the Cisco SNA appliance to authenticate SNMP messages using a FIPS-validated Keyed-HMAC.

Navigate to SNA Dashboard >> Configure >> Central Management >> Inventory >> Actions... >> Edit Appliance Configuration >> Network Services.

Set "SNMP Agent" to "Enabled".

Set "SNMP Versions" to "3".

Set "Authentication Protocol" to "HMAC192_SHA256" or better.

Select "Apply Settings".