STIGUI
V-253920CAT II — Medium severitySV-253920r1018769_rule

The Juniper EX switch must be configured to synchronize internal information system clocks using redundant authoritative time sources.

Rule version JUEX-NM-000430 · STIG v2 · 2026-06-15

Discussion

The loss of connectivity to a particular authoritative time source will result in the loss of time synchronization (free-run mode) and increasingly inaccurate time stamps on audit events and other functions.

Multiple time sources provide redundancy by including a secondary source. Time synchronization is usually a hierarchy; clients synchronize time to a local source while that source synchronizes its time to a more accurate source. The network device must utilize an authoritative time server and/or be configured to use redundant authoritative time sources. This requirement is related to the comparison done in CCI-001891.

DOD-approved solutions consist of a combination of a primary and secondary time source using a combination or multiple instances of the following: A time server designated for the appropriate DOD network (NIPRNet/SIPRNet); United States Naval Observatory (USNO) time servers; and/or the Global Positioning System (GPS). The secondary time source must be located in a different geographic region than the primary time source.

Check

Determine if the network device is configured to synchronize internal information system clocks with the primary and secondary time sources.

Verify the Network Time Protocol (NTP) configuration. [edit system ntp] authentication-key 1 type sha256 value "PSK"; ## SECRET-DATA authentication-key 2 type sha1 value "PSK"; ## SECRET-DATA server <address 1> key 1 prefer; ## SECRET-DATA server <address 2> key 2; ## SECRET-DATA trusted-key [ 1 2 ]; source-address <lo0 or OOBM address>;

If the network device is not configured to synchronize internal information system clocks with the primary and secondary time sources, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the network device to synchronize internal information system clocks with the primary and secondary time sources.

set system ntp authentication-key 1 type sha256 set system ntp authentication-key 1 value "PSK" set system ntp authentication-key 2 type sha1 set system ntp authentication-key 2 value "PSK" set system ntp server <address 1> key 1 set system ntp server <address 1> prefer set system ntp server <address 2> key 2 set system ntp trusted-key 1 set system ntp trusted-key 2 set system ntp source-address <lo0 or OOBM address>

Identifiers

Group ID
V-253920
Group title
SRG-APP-000373-NDM-000298
Rule ID
SV-253920r1018769_rule
Check ID
C-57372r997747_chk
Fix ID
F-57323r843792_fix