AOS must transmit only encrypted representations of passwords.

Passwords need to be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. Network devices can accomplish this by making direct function calls to encryption modules or by leveraging operating system encryption capabilities.

Verify the AOS configuration with the following commands: show aaa authentication-server all show snmp user-table If the LDAP servers are not configured to use port 636, or if the SNMP users are not configured to use AES encryption, this is a finding.

Configure AOS with the following commands: configure terminal aaa authentication-server ldap <server name> authport 636 preferred-conn-type ldap-s exit snmp-server user <username> auth-prot sha <passphrase> priv-prot AES <passphrase> write memory