User Accounts for FMC

The FMC includes default admin accounts for web and CLI access. This chapter discusses how to create custom user accounts. See Logging into the Firepower System for detailed information about logging into the FMC with a user account.

About User Accounts for FMC

You can add custom user accounts on the FMC, either as internal users or as external users on an LDAP or RADIUS server. The FMC maintains separate user accounts from managed devices. For example, when you add a user to the FMC, that user only has access to the FMC; you cannot then use that username to log directly into a managed device. You must separately add a user on the managed device.

Internal and External Users

The FMC supports two types of users:

  • Internal user—The FMC checks a local database for user authentication. For more information about internal users, see Add an Internal User.

  • External user—If the user is not present in the local database, the system queries an external LDAP or RADIUS authentication server. For more information about external users, see Configure External Authentication .

Web Interface and CLI Access

The FMC has a web interface, CLI (accessible from the console (either the serial port or the keyboard and monitor) or using SSH to the management interface), and Linux shell. For detailed information about the management UIs, see Firepower System User Interfaces.

See the following information about FMC user types, and which UI they can access:

  • admin user—The FMC supports two different internal admin users: one for the web interface, and another with CLI access. The system initialization process synchronizes the passwords for these two admin accounts so they start out the same, but they are tracked by different internal mechanisms and may diverge after initial configuration. See the Getting Started Guide for your model for more information on system initialization. (To change the password for the web interface admin, use System > Users > Users. To change the password for the CLI admin, use the FMC CLI command configure password .)

  • Internal users—Internal users added in the web interface have web interface access only.

  • External users—External users have web interface access, and you can optionally configure CLI access.


Caution

CLI users can access the Linux shell using the expert command. We strongly recommend that you do not use the Linux shell unless directed by Cisco TAC or explicit instructions in the FMC documentation. CLI users can obtain sudoers privileges in the Linux shell, which can present a security risk. For system security reasons, we strongly recommend that you:

  • Restrict the list of external users with CLI access appropriately.

  • Do not add users directly in the Linux shell; only use the procedures in this chapter.

User Roles

CLI User Role

CLI external users on the FMC do not have a user role; they can use all available commands.

Web Interface User Roles

User privileges are based on the assigned user role. For example, you can grant analysts predefined roles such as Security Analyst and Discovery Admin and reserve the Administrator role for the security administrator managing the device. You can also create custom user roles with access privileges tailored to your organization’s needs.

The FMC includes the following predefined user roles:


Note

Predefined user roles that the system considers read-only for the purposes of concurrent session limits, are labeled with (Read Only) in the role name under System > Users > Users and System > Users > User Roles. If a user role does not contain (Read Only) in the role name, the system considers the role to be read/write. For more information on concurrent session limits, see Global User Configuration Settings.

Access Admin

Provides access to access control policy and associated features in the Policies menu. Access Admins cannot deploy policies.

Administrator

Administrators have access to everything in the product; their sessions present a higher security risk if compromised, so you cannot make them exempt from login session timeouts.

You should limit use of the Administrator role for security reasons.

Discovery Admin

Provides access to network discovery, application detection, and correlation features in the Policies menu. Discovery Admins cannot deploy policies.

External Database User (Read Only)

Provides read-only access to the Firepower System database using an application that supports JDBC SSL connections. For the third-party application to authenticate to the Firepower System appliance, you must enable database access in the system settings. On the web interface, External Database Users have access only to online help-related options in the Help menu. Because this role’s function does not involve the web interface, access is provided only for ease of support and password changes.

Intrusion Admin

Provides access to all intrusion policy, intrusion rule, and network analysis policy features in the Policies and Objects menus. Intrusion Admins cannot deploy policies.

Maintenance User

Provides access to monitoring and maintenance features. Maintenance Users have access to maintenance-related options in the Health and System menus.

Network Admin

Provides access to access control, SSL inspection, DNS policy, and identity policy features in the Policies menu, as well as device configuration features in the Devices menus. Network Admins can deploy configuration changes to devices.

Security Analyst

Provides access to security event analysis features, and read-only access to health events, in the Overview, Analysis, Health, and System menus.

Security Analyst (Read Only)

Provides read-only access to security event analysis features and health event features in the Overview, Analysis, Health, and System menus.

User with this role can also:

  • From the health monitor pages for specific devices, generate and download troubleshooting files.

  • Under user preferences, set file download preferences.

  • Under user preferences, set the default time window for event views (with the exception of the Audit Log Time Window).

Security Approver

Provides limited access to access control and associated policies and network discovery policies in the Policies menu. Security Approvers can view and deploy these policies, but cannot make policy changes.

Threat Intelligence Director (TID) User

Provides access to Threat Intelligence Director configurations in the Intelligence menu. Threat Intelligence Director (TID) Users can view and configure TID.

User Passwords

The following rules apply to passwords for internal user accounts on the FMC, with Lights-Out Management (LOM) enabled or disabled. Different password requirements apply for externally authenticated accounts or in systems with security certifications compliance enabled. See Configure External Authentication and Security Certifications Compliance for more information.

During FMC initial configuration, the system requires the admin user to set the account password to comply with strong password requirements for LOM-enabled users as described in the table below. At this time the system synchronizes the passwords for the web interface admin and the CLI access admin. After initial configuation, the web interface admin can remove the strong password requirement, but the CLI access admin must always comply with strong password requirements.

LOM Not Enabled

LOM Enabled, admin user

Password Strength Checking On

Passwords must include:

  • At least eight characters, or the number of characters configured for the user by the administrator, whichever is greater.

  • No more than two sequentially repeating characters

  • At least one lower case letter

  • At least one upper case letter

  • At least one digit

  • At least one special character such as ! @ # * - _ +

The system checks passwords against a special dictionary containing not only many English dictionary words, but also other character strings that could be easily cracked with common password hacking techniques.

Passwords must include:

  • Between eight and twenty characters (On MC 1000, MC 2500, and MC 4500 the upper limit is fourteen characters rather than twenty.)

  • No more than two sequentially repeating characters

  • At least one lower case letter

  • At least one upper case letter

  • At least one digit

  • At least one special character such as ! @ # * - _ +

The rules for special characters vary between different series of physical FMCs. We recommend restricting your choice of special characters to those listed in the final bullet above.

Do not include the user name in the password.

The system checks passwords against a special dictionary containing not only many English dictionary words, but also other character strings that could be easily cracked with common password hacking techniques.

Password Strength Checking Off

Passwords must include the minimum number of characters configured for the user by the administrator. (See Add an Internal User for more information.)

Passwords must include:

  • Between eight and twenty characters (On MC 1000, MC 2500, and MC 4500 the upper limit is fourteen characters rather than twenty.)

  • Characters from at least three of the following four categories:

    • Uppercase letters

    • Lowercase letters

    • Digits

    • Special characters such as ! @ # * - _ +

The rules for special characters vary between different series of physical FMCs. We recommend restricting your choice of special characters to those listed in the final bullet above.

Do not include the user name in the password.

Guidelines and Limitations for User Accounts for FMC

  • The FMC includes an admin user as a local user account for all forms of access; you cannot delete the admin user. The default initial password is Admin123; the system forces you to change this during the initialization process. See the Getting Started Guide for your model for more information about system initialization.

  • By default the following settings apply to all user accounts on the FMC:

    • There are no limits on password reuse.

    • The system does not track successful logins.

    • The system does not enforce a timed temporary lockout for users who enter incorrect login credentials.

    • There are no user-defined limits on the number of read-only and read/write sessions that can be open at the same time.

    You can change these settings for all users as a system configuration. (System > Configuration > User Configuration) See Global User Configuration Settings.

  • Ensure that you follow the principles of least privilege when assigning default access roles to users at initial setup. When a user first logs in to the system with their credentials, their account will be assigned this default access role. We recommend that the default access role be the lowest possible privilege required for anyone to log in to the system. For example, common users can be given the Security Analyst (Read-Only) role as the default access role, and administrators can be added to a separate administrator’s group to give them full administrator rights. If you do not follow the principles of least privilege while assigning the default access role, users may be assigned an unintended privilege level on subsequent logins. This could result in the users having privileges beyond their required access role. Note that this guideline applies to all users - internal, external, or CAC users.

    If a user who has logged in with the default access role needs a temporary elevation of their privileges, a user with administrative privileges can temporarily provide that user the required higher level of access by assigning them a role with higher privilege. This privilege will be revoked after 24 hours of inactivity, and the user will return to their default access role.

    If a user needs a permanent access role reassignment to a higher privilege level, such as System Admin, use the Group Controlled Access Roles method to provide admin access to the user. This method ensures that the provided access role persists beyond 24 hours and users will have the correct privilege level as per the group assignment. For more information on configuring Group Controlled Access Roles, see the Add an LDAP External Authentication Object for Management Center section.

Add an Internal User

This procedure describes how to add custom internal user accounts for the FMC.

The System > Users > Users shows both internal users that you added manually and external users that were added automatically when a user logged in with LDAP or RADIUS authentication. For external users, you can modify the user role on this screen if you assign a role with higher privileges; you cannot modify the password settings.

In a multidomain deployment on the FMC, users are only visible in the domain in which they are created. Note that if you add a user in the Global domain, but then assign a user role for a leaf domain, then that user still shows on the Global Users page where it was added, even though the user "belongs" to a leaf domain.

If you enable security certifications compliance or Lights-Out Management (LOM) on a device, different password restrictions apply. For more information on security certifications compliance, see Security Certifications Compliance.

When you add a user in a leaf domain, that user is not visible from the global domain.


Note

Avoid having multiple Admin users simultaneously creating new users on the FMC, as this may cause an error resulting from a conflict in user database access.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose System > Users.

Step 2

Click Create User.

Step 3

Enter a User Name.

The username must comply with the following restrictions:

  • Maximum 32 alphanumeric characters, plus hyphen (-), underscore (_) and period (.).

  • Letters may be upper or lower case.

  • Cannot include any punctuation or special characters other than hyphen (-), underscore (_) and period (.).

Step 4

Real Name: Enter descriptive information to identify the user or department to whom the account belongs.

Step 5

The Use External Authentication Method checkbox is checked for users that were added automatically when they logged in with LDAP or RADIUS. You do not need to pre-configure external users, so you can ignore this field. For an external user, you can revert this user to an internal user by unchecking the check box.

Step 6

Enter values in the Password and Confirm Password fields.

The values must conform to the password options you set for this user.

Step 7

Set the Maximum Number of Failed Logins.

Enter an integer, without spaces, that determines the maximum number of times each user can try to log in after a failed login attempt before the account is locked. The default setting is 5 tries; use 0 to allow an unlimited number of failed logins. The admin account is exempt from being locked out after a maximum number of failed logins unless you enabled security certification compliance.

Step 8

Set the Minimum Password Length.

Enter an integer, without spaces, that determines the minimum required length, in characters, of a user’s password. The default setting is 8. A value of 0 indicates that no minimum length is required.

Step 9

Set the Days Until Password Expiration.

Enter the number of days after which the user’s password expires. The default setting is 0, which indicates that the password never expires. If you change from the default, then the Password Lifetime column of the Users list indicates the days remaining on each user’s password.

Step 10

Set the Days Before Password Expiration Warning.

Enter the number of warning days users have to change their password before their password actually expires. The default setting is 0 days.

Step 11

Set user Options.

  • Force Password Reset on Login—Forces users to change their passwords the next time they log in.

  • Check Password Strength—Requires strong passwords. When password strength checking is enabled, passwords must comply with the strong password requirements described in User Passwords.

  • Exempt from Browser Session Timeout—Exempts a user’s login sessions from termination due to inactivity. Users with the Administrator role cannot be made exempt.

Step 12

In the User Role Configuration area, assign user role(s). For more information about user roles, see Customize User Roles for the Web Interface.

For external users, if the user role is assigned through group membership (LDAP), or based on a user attribute (RADIUS), you cannot remove the minimum access rights. You can, however, assign additional rights. If the user role is the default user role that you set on the device, then you can modify the role in the user account without limitations. When you modify the user role, the Authentication Method column on the Users tab provides a status of External - Locally Modified.

The options you see depend on whether the device is in a single domain or multidomain deployment.

  • Single domain—Check the user role(s) you want to assign the user.

  • Multidomain—In a multidomain deployment, you can create user accounts in any domain in which you have been assigned Administrator access. Users can have different privileges in each domain. You can assign user roles in both ancestor and descendant domains. For example, you can assign read-only privileges to a user in the Global domain, but Administrator privileges in a descendant domain. See the following steps:

    1. Click Add Domain.

    2. Choose a domain from the Domain drop-down list.

    3. Check the user roles you want to assign the user.

    4. Click Save.

Step 13

(Optional, for physical FMCs only.) If you have assigned the user the Administrator role, the Administrator Options appear. You can select Allow Lights-Out Management Access to grant Lights-Out Management access to the user. See Lights-Out Management Overview for more information about Lights-Out Management.

Step 14

Click Save.

Configure External Authentication

To enable external authentication, you need to add one or more external authentication objects.

About External Authentication

When you enable external authentication, the FMC verifies the user credentials with an LDAP or RADIUS server as specified in an external authentication object.

You can configure multiple external authentication objects for web interface access. For example, if you have 5 external authentication objects, users from any of them can be authenticated to access the web interface. You can use only one external authentication object for CLI access. If you have more than one external authentication object enabled, then users can authenticate using only the first object in the list.

External authentication objects can be used by the FMC and Firepower Threat Defense devices. You can share the same object between the different appliance/device types, or create separate objects.


Note

The timeout range is different for the FTD and the FMC, so if you share an object, be sure not to exceed the FTD's smaller timeout range (1-30 seconds for LDAP, and 1-300 seconds for RADIUS). If you set the timeout to a higher value, the FTD external authentication configuration will not work..

For the FMC, enable the external authentication objects directly on the System > Users > External Authentication tab; this setting only affects FMC usage, and it does not need to be enabled on this tab for managed device usage. For Firepower Threat Defense devices, you must enable the external authentication object in the platform settings that you deploy to the devices.

Web interface users are defined separately from CLI users in the external authentication object. For CLI users on RADIUS, you must pre-configure the list of RADIUS usernames in the external authentication object. For LDAP, you can specify a filter to match CLI users on the LDAP server.

You cannot use an LDAP object for CLI access that is also configured for CAC authentication.


Note
Users with CLI access can gain Linux shell access with the expert command. Linux shell users can obtain root privileges, which can present a security risk. Make sure that you:

  • Restrict the list of users with CLI or Linux shell access.

  • Do not create Linux shell users.

About LDAP

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) allows you to set up a directory on your network that organizes objects, such as user credentials, in a centralized location. Multiple applications can then access those credentials and the information used to describe them. If you ever need to change a user's credentials, you can change them in one place.

Microsoft has announced that Active Directory servers will start enforcing LDAP binding and LDAP signing in 2020. Microsoft is making these a requirement because when using default settings, an elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Microsoft Windows that could allow a man-in-the-middle attacker to successfully forward an authentication request to a Windows LDAP server. For more information, see 2020 LDAP channel binding and LDAP signing requirement for Windows on the Microsoft support site.

If you have not done so already, we recommend you start using TLS/SSL encryption to authenticate with an Active Directory server.

About RADIUS

Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) is an authentication protocol used to authenticate, authorize, and account for user access to network resources. You can create an authentication object for any RADIUS server that conforms to RFC 2865.

Firepower devices support the use of SecurID tokens. When you configure authentication by a server using SecurID, users authenticated against that server append the SecurID token to the end of their SecurID PIN and use that as their password when they log in. You do not need to configure anything extra on the Firepower device to support SecurID.

Add an LDAP External Authentication Object for FMC

Add an LDAP server to support external users for device management.

In a multidomain deployment, external authentication objects are only available in the domain in which they are created.

Before you begin

  • You must specify DNS server(s) for domain name lookup on your device. Even if you specify an IP address and not a hostname for the LDAP server on this procedure, the LDAP server may return a URI for authentication that can include a hostname. A DNS lookup is required to resolve the hostname. See Modify FMC Management Interfaces to add DNS servers.

  • If you are configuring an LDAP authentication object for use with CAC authentication, do not remove the CAC inserted in your computer. You must have a CAC inserted at all times after enabling user certificates.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose System > Users.

Step 2

Click the External Authentication tab.

Step 3

Click Add External Authentication Object.

Step 4

Set the Authentication Method to LDAP.

Step 5

(Optional) Check the check box for CAC if you plan to use this authentication object for CAC authentication and authorization.

You must also follow the procedure in Configure Common Access Card Authentication with LDAP to fully configure CAC authentication and authorization. You cannot use this object for CLI users.

Step 6

Enter a Name and optional Description.

Step 7

Choose a Server Type from the drop-down list.

Tip

 

If you click Set Defaults, the device populates the User Name Template, UI Access Attribute, Shell Access Attribute, Group Member Attribute, and Group Member URL Attribute fields with default values for the server type.

Step 8

For the Primary Server, enter a Host Name/IP Address.

If you are using a certificate to connect via TLS or SSL, the host name in the certificate must match the host name used in this field. In addition, IPv6 addresses are not supported for encrypted connections.

Step 9

(Optional) Change the Port from the default.

Step 10

(Optional) Enter the Backup Server parameters.

Step 11

Enter LDAP-Specific Parameters.

  1. Enter the Base DN for the LDAP directory you want to access. For example, to authenticate names in the Security organization at the Example company, enter ou=security,dc=example,dc=com. Alternatively click Fetch DNs, and choose the appropriate base distinguished name from the drop-down list.

  2. (Optional) Enter the Base Filter. For example, if the user objects in a directory tree have a physicalDeliveryOfficeName attribute and users in the New York office have an attribute value of NewYork for that attribute, to retrieve only users in the New York office, enter (physicalDeliveryOfficeName=NewYork).

    If you are using CAC authentication, to filter only active user accounts (excluding the disabled user accounts), enter (!(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)). This criteria retrieves user accounts within AD belonging to ldpgrp group and with userAccountControl attribute value that is not 2 (disabled).

  3. Enter a User Name for a user who has sufficient credentials to browse the LDAP server. For example, if you are connecting to an OpenLDAP server where user objects have a uid attribute, and the object for the administrator in the Security division at your example company has a uid value of NetworkAdmin, you might enter uid=NetworkAdmin,ou=security,dc=example,dc=com.

  4. Enter the user password in the Password and the Confirm Password fields.

  5. (Optional) Click Show Advanced Options to configure the following advanced options.

    • Encryption—Click None, TLS, or SSL.

      If you change the encryption method after specifying a port, you reset the port to the default value for that method. For None or TLS, the port resets to the default value of 389. If you choose SSL encryption, the port resets to 636.

    • SSL Certificate Upload Path—For SSL or TLS encryption, you must choose a certificate by clicking Choose File.

      If you previously uploaded a certificate and want to replace it, upload the new certificate and redeploy the configuration to your devices to copy over the new certificate.

      Note

       

      TLS encryption requires a certificate on all platforms. We recommend that you always upload a certificate for SSL to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.

    • User Name Template—Provide a template that corresponds with your UI Access Attribute. For example, to authenticate all users who work in the Security organization of the Example company by connecting to an OpenLDAP server where the UI access attribute is uid, you might enter uid=%s,ou=security,dc=example,dc=com in the User Name Template field. For a Microsoft Active Directory server, you could enter %s@security.example.com.

      This field is required for CAC authentication.

    • Timeout—Enter the number of seconds before rolling over to the backup connection, between 1 and 1024. The default is 30.

      Note

       

      The timeout range is different for the FTD and the FMC, so if you share an object, be sure not to exceed the FTD's smaller timeout range (1-30 seconds). If you set the timeout to a higher value, the FTD LDAP configuration will not work.

Step 12

(Optional) Configure Attribute Mapping to retrieve users based on an attribute.

  • Enter a UI Access Attribute, or click Fetch Attrs to retrieve a list of available attributes. For example, on a Microsoft Active Directory Server, you may want to use the UI access attribute to retrieve users, because there may not be a uid attribute on Active Directory Server user objects. Instead, you can search the userPrincipalName attribute by typing userPrincipalName in the UI Access Attribute field.

    This field is required for CAC authentication.

  • Set the Shell Access Attribute if you want to use a shell access attribute other than the user distinguished type. For example, on a Microsoft Active Directory Server, use the sAMAccountName shell access attribute to retrieve CLI access users by typing sAMAccountName.

Step 13

(Optional) Configure Group Controlled Access Roles.

If you do not configure a user’s privileges using group-controlled access roles, a user has only the privileges granted by default in the external authentication policy.

  1. (Optional) In the fields that correspond to user roles, enter the distinguished name for the LDAP groups that contain users who should be assigned to those roles.

    Any group you reference must exist on the LDAP server. You can reference static LDAP groups or dynamic LDAP groups. Static LDAP groups are groups where membership is determined by group object attributes that point to specific users, and dynamic LDAP groups are groups where membership is determined by creating an LDAP search that retrieves group users based on user object attributes. Group access rights for a role only affect users who are members of the group.

    If you use a dynamic group, the LDAP query is used exactly as it is configured on the LDAP server. For this reason, the Firepower device limits the number of recursions of a search to 4 to prevent search syntax errors from causing infinite loops.

    Example:

    Enter the following in the Administrator field to authenticate names in the information technology organization at the Example company: 

    
cn=itgroup,ou=groups, dc=example,dc=com

  2. Choose a Default User Role for users that do not belong to any of the specified groups.

  3. If you use static groups, enter a Group Member Attribute.

    Example:

    If the member attribute is used to indicate membership in the static group for default Security Analyst access, enter member.

  4. If you use dynamic groups, enter a Group Member URL Attribute.

    Example:

    If the memberURL attribute contains the LDAP search that retrieves members for the dynamic group you specified for default Admin access, enter memberURL.

If you change a user's role, you must save/deploy the changed external authentication object and also remove the user from the Users screen. The user will be re-added automatically the next time they log in.

Step 14

(Optional) Set the Shell Access Filter to allow CLI users.

To prevent LDAP authentication of CLI access, leave this field blank. To specify CLI users, choose one of the following methods:

  • To use the same filter you specified when configuring authentication settings, choose Same as Base Filter.

  • To retrieve administrative user entries based on attribute value, enter the attribute name, a comparison operator, and the attribute value you want to use as a filter, enclosed in parentheses. For example, if all network administrators have a manager attribute which has an attribute value of shell, you can set a base filter of (manager=shell).

The usernames must be Linux-valid:

  • Maximum 32 alphanumeric characters, plus hyphen (-) and underscore (_)

  • All lowercase

  • Cannot start with hyphen (-); cannot be all numbers; cannot include a period (.), at sign (@), or slash (/)

Note

 

Users with CLI access can gain Linux shell access with the expert command. Linux shell users can obtain root privileges, which can present a security risk. Make sure that you restrict the list of users with CLI or Linux shell access.

Note

 

Do not create any internal users that have the same user name as users included in the Shell Access Filter. The only internal FMC user should be admin; do not include an admin user in the Shell Access Filter.

Step 15

(Optional) Click Test to test connectivity to the LDAP server.

The test output lists valid and invalid user names. Valid user names are unique, and can include underscores (_), periods (.), hyphens (-), and alphanumeric characters. Note that testing the connection to servers with more than 1000 users only returns 1000 users because of UI page size limitations. If the test fails, see Troubleshooting LDAP Authentication Connections.

Step 16

(Optional) You can also enter Additional Test Parameters to test user credentials for a user who should be able to authenticate: enter a User Name uid and Password, and then click Test.

If you are connecting to a Microsoft Active Directory Server and supplied a UI access attribute in place of uid, use the value for that attribute as the user name. You can also specify a fully qualified distinguished name for the user.

Tip

 

If you mistype the name or password of the test user, the test fails even if the server configuration is correct. To verify that the server configuration is correct, click Test without entering user information in the Additional Test Parameters field first. If that succeeds, supply a user name and password to test with the specific user.

Example:

To test if you can retrieve the JSmith user credentials at the Example company, enter JSmith and the correct password.

Step 17

Click Save.

Step 18

Enable use of this server. See Enable External Authentication for Users on the FMC.

Examples

Basic Example

The following figures illustrate a basic configuration of an LDAP login authentication object for a Microsoft Active Directory Server. The LDAP server in this example has an IP address of 10.11.3.4. The connection uses port 389 for access.

Screenshot of an LDAP authentication object configuration.

This example shows a connection using a base distinguished name of OU=security,DC=it,DC=example,DC=com for the security organization in the information technology domain of the Example company.

Screenshot of an LDAP authentication object configuration.

However, because this server is a Microsoft Active Directory server, it uses the sAMAccountName attribute to store user names rather than the uid attribute. Choosing the MS Active Directory server type and clicking Set Defaults sets the UI Access Attribute to sAMAccountName. As a result, the Firepower System checks the sAMAccountName attribute for each object for matching user names when a user attempts to log into the Firepower System.

In addition, a Shell Access Attribute of sAMAccountName causes each sAMAccountName attribute to be checked for all objects in the directory for matches when a user logs into a CLI account on the appliance.

Note that because no base filter is applied to this server, the Firepower System checks attributes for all objects in the directory indicated by the base distinguished name. Connections to the server time out after the default time period (or the timeout period set on the LDAP server).

Advanced Example

This example illustrates an advanced configuration of an LDAP login authentication object for a Microsoft Active Directory Server. The LDAP server in this example has an IP address of 10.11.3.4. The connection uses port 636 for access.

Screenshot of LDAP login authentication object configuration.

This example shows a connection using a base distinguished name of OU=security,DC=it,DC=example,DC=com for the security organization in the information technology domain of the Example company. However, note that this server has a base filter of (cn=*smith). The filter restricts the users retrieved from the server to those with a common name ending in smith.

Screenshot of LDAP login authentication object configuration filtering retrieved names.

The connection to the server is encrypted using SSL and a certificate named certificate.pem is used for the connection. In addition, connections to the server time out after 60 seconds because of the Timeout setting.

Because this server is a Microsoft Active Directory server, it uses the sAMAccountName attribute to store user names rather than the uid attribute. Note that the configuration includes a UI Access Attribute of sAMAccountName. As a result, the Firepower System checks the sAMAccountName attribute for each object for matching user names when a user attempts to log into the Firepower System.

In addition, a Shell Access Attribute of sAMAccountName causes each sAMAccountName attribute to be checked for all objects in the directory for matches when a user logs into a CLI account on the appliance.

This example also has group settings in place. The Maintenance User role is automatically assigned to all members of the group with a member group attribute and the base domain name of CN=SFmaintenance,DC=it,DC=example,DC=com.

Screenshot of Group Controlled Access Roles settings.

The Shell Access Filter is set to be the same as the base filter, so the same users can access the appliance through the CLI as through the web interface.

Screenshot of the Shell Access Filter settings.

Add a RADIUS External Authentication Object for FMC

Add a RADIUS server to support external users for device management.

In a multidomain deployment, external authentication objects are only available in the domain in which they are created.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose System > Users.

Step 2

Click External Authentication.

Step 3

Click Add External Authentication Object.

Step 4

Set the Authentication Method to RADIUS.

Step 5

Enter a Name and optional Description.

Step 6

For the Primary Server, enter a Host Name/IP Address.

Step 7

(Optional) Change the Port from the default.

Step 8

Enter the RADIUS Secret Key.

Step 9

(Optional) Enter the Backup Server parameters.

Step 10

(Optional) Enter RADIUS-Specific Parameters.

  1. Enter the Timeout in seconds before retrying the primary server, between 1 and 1024. The default is 30.

    Note

     

    The timeout range is different for the FTD and the FMC, so if you share an object, be sure not to exceed the FTD's smaller timeout range (1-300 seconds). If you set the timeout to a higher value, the FTD RADIUS configuration will not work.

  2. Enter the Retries before rolling over to the backup server. The default is 3.

  3. In the fields that correspond to user roles, enter the name of each user or identifying attribute-value pair that should be assigned to those roles.

    Separate usernames and attribute-value pairs with commas.

    Example:

    If you know all users who should be Security Analysts have the value Analyst for their User-Category attribute, you can enter User-Category=Analyst in the Security Analyst field to grant that role to those users.

    Example:

    To grant the Administrator role to the users jsmith and jdoe, enter jsmith, jdoe in the Administrator field.

    Example:

    To grant the Maintenance User role to all users with a User-Category value of Maintenance, enter User-Category=Maintenance in the Maintenance User field.

  4. Select the Default User Role for users that do not belong to any of the specified groups.

If you change a user's role, you must save/deploy the changed external authentication object and also remove the user from the Users screen. The user will be re-added automatically the next time they log in.

Step 11

(Optional) Define Custom RADIUS Attributes.

If your RADIUS server returns values for attributes not included in the dictionary file in /etc/radiusclient/, and you plan to use those attributes to set roles for users with those attributes, you need to define those attributes. You can locate the attributes returned for a user by looking at the user’s profile on your RADIUS server.

  1. Enter an Attribute Name.

    When you define an attribute, you provide the name of the attribute, which consists of alphanumeric characters. Note that words in an attribute name should be separated by dashes rather than spaces.

  2. Enter the Attribute ID as an integer.

    The attribute ID should be an integer and should not conflict with any existing attribute IDs in the etc/radiusclient/dictionary file.

  3. Choose the Attribute Type from the drop-down list.

    You also specify the type of attribute: string, IP address, integer, or date.

  4. Click Add to add the custom attribute.

When you create a RADIUS authentication object, a new dictionary file for that object is created on the device in the /var/sf/userauth directory. Any custom attributes you add are added to the dictionary file.

Example:

If a RADIUS server is used on a network with a Cisco router, you might want to use the Ascend-Assign-IP-Pool attribute to grant a specific role to all users logging in from a specific IP address pool. Ascend-Assign-IP-Pool is an integer attribute that defines the address pool where the user is allowed to log in, with the integer indicating the number of the assigned IP address pool.

To declare that custom attribute, you create a custom attribute with an attribute name of Ascend-IP-Pool-Definition, an attribute ID of 218, and an attribute type of integer.

You could then enter Ascend-Assign-IP-Pool=2 in the Security Analyst (Read Only) field to grant read-only security analyst rights to all users with an Ascend-IP-Pool-Definition attribute value of 2.

Step 12

(Optional) In the Shell Access Filter area Administrator Shell Access User List field, enter the user names that should have CLI access, separated by commas.

Make sure that these usernames match usernames on the RADIUS server. The names must be Linux-valid usernames:

  • Maximum 32 alphanumeric characters, plus hyphen (-) and underscore (_)

  • All lowercase

  • Cannot start with hyphen (-); cannot be all numbers; cannot include a period (.), at sign (@), or slash (/)

To prevent RADIUS authentication of CLI access, leave the field blank.

Note

 

Users with CLI access can gain Linux shell access with the expert command. Linux shell users can obtain root privileges, which can present a security risk. Make sure that you restrict the list of users with CLI or Linux shell access.

Note

 

Remove any internal users that have the same user name as users included in the shell access filter. For the FMC, the only internal CLI user is admin, so do not also create an admin external user.

Step 13

(Optional) Click Test to test FMC connectivity to the RADIUS server.

Step 14

(Optional) You can also enter Additional Test Parameters to test user credentials for a user who should be able to authenticate: enter a User Name and Password, and then click Test.

Tip

 

If you mistype the name or password of the test user, the test fails even if the server configuration is correct. To verify that the server configuration is correct, click Test without entering user information in the Additional Test Parameters field first. If that succeeds, supply a user name and password to test with the specific user.

Example:

To test if you can retrieve the JSmith user credentials at the Example company, enter JSmith and the correct password.

Step 15

Click Save.

Step 16

Enable use of this server. See Enable External Authentication for Users on the FMC.

Examples

Simple User Role Assignments

The following figure illustrates a sample RADIUS login authentication object for a server running Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) with an IP address of 10.10.10.98 on port 1812. No backup server is defined.

The following example shows RADIUS-specific parameters, including the timeout (30 seconds) and number of failed retries before the Firepower System attempts to contact the backup server, if any.

This example illustrates important aspects of RADIUS user role configuration:

Users ewharton and gsand are granted web interface Administrative access.

The user cbronte is granted web interface Maintenance User access.

The user jausten is granted web interface Security Analyst access.

The user ewharton can log into the device using a CLI account.

The following graphic depicts the role configuration for the example:

Roles for Users Matching an Attribute-Value Pair

You can use an attribute-value pair to identify users who should receive a particular user role. If the attribute you use is a custom attribute, you must define the custom attribute.

The following figure illustrates the role configuration and custom attribute definition in a sample RADIUS login authentication object for the same ISE server as in the previous example.

In this example, however, the MS-RAS-Version custom attribute is returned for one or more of the users because a Microsoft remote access server is in use. Note the MS-RAS-Version custom attribute is a string. In this example, all users logging in to RADIUS through a Microsoft v. 5.00 remote access server should receive the Security Analyst (Read Only) role, so you enter the attribute-value pair of MS-RAS-Version=MSRASV5.00 in the Security Analyst (Read Only) field.

Enable External Authentication for Users on the FMC

When you enable external authentication for management users, the FMC verifies the user credentials with an LDAP or RADIUS server as specified in an External Authentication object.

Before you begin

Add one or more external authentication objects according to Add an LDAP External Authentication Object for FMC and Add a RADIUS External Authentication Object for FMC.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose System > Users.

Step 2

Click External Authentication.

Step 3

Set the default user role for external web interface users.

Users without a role cannot perform any actions. Any user roles defined in the external authentication object overrides this default user role.

  1. Click the Default User Roles value (by default, none selected).

  1. In the Default User Role Configuration dialog box, check the role(s) that you want to use.

  2. Click Save.

Step 4

Click the Slider enabled (slider enabled) next to the each external authentication object that you want to use. If you enable more than 1 object, then users are compared against servers in the order specified. See the next step to reorder servers.

If you enable shell authentication, you must enable an external authentication object that includes a Shell Access Filter. Also, CLI access users can only authenticate against the server whose authentication object is highest in the list.

Step 5

(Optional) Drag and drop servers to change the order in which authentication they are accessed when an authentication request occurs.

Step 6

Choose Shell Authentication > Enabled if you want to allow CLI access for external users.

The first external authentication object name is shown next to the Enabled option to remind you that only the first object is used for CLI.

Step 7

Click Save and Apply.

Configure Common Access Card Authentication with LDAP

If your organization uses Common Access Cards (CACs), you can configure LDAP authentication to authenticate FMC users logging into the web interface. With CAC authentication, users have the option to log in directly without providing a separate username and password for the device.

CAC-authenticated users are identified by their electronic data interchange personal identifier (EDIPI) numbers.

After 24 hours of inactivity, the device deletes CAC-authenticated users from the Users tab. The users are re-added after each subsequent login, but you must reconfigure any manual changes to their user roles.


Caution

When configuring CAC authentication with LDAP, ensure that you follow the principles of least privilege while assigning a default access role to the users. When a user first logs in to the system with their CAC credentials, their account will be assigned this default access role.

If you do not follow the principles of least privilege while assigning the default access role, users may be assigned an unintended privilege level on subsequent logins. This could result in the users having privileges beyond their required access role.

If a user who has logged in with the default access role needs a temporary elevation of their privileges, a user with administrative privileges can temporarily provide that user the required higher level of access by assigning them a role with higher privilege. This privilege will be revoked after 24 hours of inactivity, and the user will return to their default access role.

If a user needs a permanent access role reassignment to a higher privilege level, such as System Admin, use the Group Controlled Access Roles method to provide admin access to the user. This method ensures that the provided access role persists beyond 24 hours and users will have the correct privilege level as per the group assignment. For more information on configuring Group Controlled Access Roles, see the Add an LDAP External Authentication Object for Management Center section.

Before you begin

You must have a valid user certificate present in your browser (in this case, a certificate passed to your browser via your CAC) to enable user certificates as part of the CAC configuration process. After you configure CAC authentication and authorization, users on your network must maintain the CAC connection for the duration of their browsing session. If you remove or replace a CAC during a session, your web browser terminates the session and the system logs you out of the web interface.

Procedure

Step 1

Insert a CAC as directed by your organization.

Step 2

Direct your browser to https://ipaddress_or_hostname/, where ipaddress or hostname corresponds to your device.

Step 3

If prompted, enter the PIN associated with the CAC you inserted in step 1.

Step 4

If prompted, choose the appropriate certificate from the drop-down list.

Step 5

On the Login page, in the Username and Password fields, log in as a user with Administrator privileges. You cannot yet log in using your CAC credentials.

Step 6

Choose System > Users > External Authentication.

Step 7

Create an LDAP authentication object exclusively for CAC, following the procedure in Add an LDAP External Authentication Object for FMC. You must configure the following:

  • CAC check box.

  • LDAP-Specific Parameters > Show Advanced Options > User Name Template.

  • Attribute Mapping > UI Access Attribute.

Step 8

Click Save.

Step 9

Enable external authentication and CAC authentication as described in Enable External Authentication for Users on the FMC.

Step 10

Choose System > Configuration, and click HTTPS Certificate.

Step 11

Import a HTTPS server certificate, if necessary, following the procedure outlined in Importing HTTPS Server Certificates.

The same certificate authority (CA) must issue the HTTPS server certificate and the user certificates on the CACs you plan to use.

Step 12

Under HTTPS User Certificate Settings, choose Enable User Certificates. For more information, see Requiring Valid HTTPS Client Certificates.

Step 13

Log into the device according to Logging Into the Firepower Management Center with CAC Credentials.

Customize User Roles for the Web Interface

Each user account must be defined with a user role. This section describes how to manage user roles and how to configure a custom user role for web interface access. For default user roles, see User Roles.

Create Custom User Roles

Custom user roles can have any set of menu-based and system permissions, and may be completely original, copied from a predefined or another custom user role, or imported from another device.


Note

Custom user roles that the system considers read-only for the purposes of concurrent session limits, are automatically labeled by the system with (Read Only) in the role name on the System > Users > Users tab and the System > Users > User Roles tab. If a user role does not contain (Read Only) in the role name, the system considers the role to be read/write.

When you create a custom role or modify an existing custom role, the system automatically applies (Read Only) to the role name if all of the selected permissions for that role meet the required criteria for being read-only. You cannot make a role read-only by adding that text string manually to the role name. For more information on concurrent session limits, see Global User Configuration Settings.


Caution

Users with menu-based User Management permissions have the ability to elevate their own privileges or create new user accounts with extensive privileges, including the Administrator user role. For system security reasons we strongly recommend you restrict the list of users with User Management permissions appropriately.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose System > Users.

Step 2

Click User Roles.

Step 3

Add a new user role with one of the following methods:

  • Click Create User Role.

  • Click the Copy (copy icon) next to the user role you want to copy.

  • Import a custom user role from another device:

    1. On the old device, click the Export (export icon) to save the role to your PC.

    2. On the new device, choose System > Tools > Import/Export.

    3. Click Upload Package, then follow the instructions to import the saved user role to the new device.

Step 4

Enter a Name for the new user role. User role names are case sensitive.

Step 5

(Optional) Add a Description.

Step 6

Choose Menu-Based Permissions for the new role.

When you choose a permission, all of its children are chosen, and the multi-value permissions use the first value. If you clear a high-level permission, all of its children are cleared also. If you choose a permission but not its children, it appears in italic text.

Copying a predefined user role to use as the base for your custom role preselects the permissions associated with that predefined role.

You can apply restrictive searches to a custom user role. These searches constrain the data a user can see in the tables on the pages available under the Analysis menu. You can configure a restrictive search by first creating a private saved search and selecting it from the Restrictive Search drop-down menu under the appropriate menu-based permission.

Step 7

(Optional) Check the External Database Access check box to set database access permissions for the new role.

This option provides read-only access to the database using an application that supports JDBC SSL connections. For the third-party application to authenticate to the device, you must enable database access in the system settings.

Step 8

(Optional) To set escalation permissions for the new user role, see Enable User Role Escalation.

Step 9

Click Save.

Example

You can create custom user roles for access control-related features to designate whether users can view and modify access control and associated policies.

The following table lists custom roles that you could create and user permissions granted for each example. The table lists the privileges required for each custom role. In this example, Policy Approvers can view (but not modify) access control and intrusion policies. They can also deploy configuration changes to devices.

Table 1. Sample Access Control Custom Roles

Custom Role Permission

Example: Access Control Editor

Example: Intrusion & Network Analysis Editor

Example: Policy Approver

Access Control

yes

no

yes

Access Control Policy

yes

no

yes

Modify Access Control Policy

yes

no

no

Intrusion Policy

no

yes

yes

Modify Intrusion Policy

no

yes

no

Deploy Configuration to Devices

no

no

yes

Deactivate User Roles

Deactivating a role removes that role and all associated permissions from any user who is assigned that role. You cannot delete predefined user roles, but you can deactivate them.

In a multidomain deployment, the system displays custom user roles created in the current domain, which you can edit. It also displays custom user roles created in ancestor domains, which you cannot edit. To view and edit custom user roles in a lower domain, switch to that domain.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose System > Users.

Step 2

Click User Roles.

Step 3

Click the slider next to the user role you want to activate or deactivate.

If the controls are dimmed, the configuration belongs to an ancestor domain, or you do not have permission to modify the configuration.

If you deactivate, then reactivate, a role with Lights-Out Management while a user with that role is logged in, or restore a user or user role from a backup during that user’s login session, that user must log back into the web interface to regain access to IPMItool commands.

Enable User Role Escalation

You can give custom user roles the permission, with a password, to temporarily gain the privileges of another, targeted user role in addition to those of the base role. This feature allows you to easily substitute one user for another during an absence, or to more closely track the use of advanced user privileges. Default user roles do not support escalation.

For example, a user whose base role has very limited privileges can escalate to the Administrator role to perform administrative actions. You can configure this feature so that users can use their own passwords, or so they use the password of another user that you specify. The second option allows you to easily manage one escalation password for all applicable users.

To configure user role escalation, see the following workflow.

Procedure

Step 1

Set the Escalation Target Role. Only one user role at a time can be the escalation target role.

Step 2

Configure a Custom User Role for Escalation.

Step 3

(For the logged in user) Escalate Your User Role.

Set the Escalation Target Role

You can assign any of your user roles, predefined or custom, to act as the system-wide escalation target role. This is the role to which a custom role can escalate, if it has the ability. Only one user role at a time can be the escalation target role. Each escalation lasts for the duration of a login session and is recorded in the audit log.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose System > Users.

Step 2

Click User Roles.

Step 3

Click Configure Permission Escalation.

Step 4

Choose a user role from the Escalation Target drop-down list.

Step 5

Click OK to save your changes.

Changing the escalation target role is effective immediately. Users in escalated sessions now have the permissions of the new escalation target.

Configure a Custom User Role for Escalation

Users for whom you want to enable escalation must belong to a custom user role with escalation enabled. This procedure describes how to enable escaltion for a custom user role.

Consider the needs of your organization when you configure the escalation password for a custom role. If you want to easily manage many escalating users, you might want to choose another user whose password serves as the escalation password. If you change that user’s password or deactivate that user, all escalating users who require that password are affected. This action allows you to manage user role escalation more efficiently, especially if you choose an externally-authenticated user that you can manage centrally.

Before you begin

Set a target user role according to Set the Escalation Target Role.

Procedure

Step 1

Begin configuring your custom user role as described in Create Custom User Roles.

Step 2

In System Permissions, choose the Set this role to escalate to: Maintenance User check box.

The current escalation target role is listed beside the check box.

Step 3

Choose the password that this role uses to escalate. You have two options:

  • Choose Authenticate with the assigned user’s password if you want users with this role to use their own passwords when they escalate, .
  • Choose Authenticate with the specified user’s password and enter that username if you want users with this role to use the password of another user.

    Note

     

    When authenticating with another user’s password, you can enter any username, even that of a deactivated or nonexistent user. Deactivating the user whose password is used for escalation makes escalation impossible for users with the role that requires it. You can use this feature to quickly remove escalation powers if necessary.

Step 4

Click Save.

Escalate Your User Role

When a user has an assigned custom user role with permission to escalate, that user can escalate to the target role’s permissions at any time. Note that escalation has no effect on user preferences.

Procedure

Step 1

From the drop-down list under your user name, choose Escalate Permissions.

If you do not see this option, your administrator did not enable escalation for your user role.

Step 2

Enter the authentication password.

Step 3

Click Escalate. You now have all permissions of the escalation target role in addition to your current role.

Escalation lasts for the remainder of your login session. To return to the privileges of your base role only, you must log out, then begin a new session.

Troubleshooting LDAP Authentication Connections

If you create an LDAP authentication object and it either does not succeed in connecting to the server you select, or does not retrieve the list of users you want, you can tune the settings in the object.

If the connection fails when you test it, try the following suggestions to troubleshoot your configuration:

  • Use the messages displayed at the top of the web interface screen and in the test output to determine which areas of the object are causing the issue.

  • Check that the user name and password you used for the object are valid:

    • Check that you have the rights to browse to the directory indicated in your base-distinguished name by connecting to the LDAP server using a third-party LDAP browser.

    • Check that the user name is unique to the directory information tree for the LDAP server.

    • If you see an LDAP bind error 49 in the test output, the user binding for the user failed. Try authenticating to the server through a third-party application to see if the binding fails through that connection as well.

  • Check that you have correctly identified the server:

    • Check that the server IP address or host name is correct.

    • Check that you have TCP/IP access from your local appliance to the authentication server where you want to connect.

    • Check that access to the server is not blocked by a firewall and that the port you have configured in the object is open.

    • If you are using a certificate to connect via TLS or SSL, the host name in the certificate must match the host name used for the server.

    • Check that you have not used an IPv6 address for the server connection if you are authenticating CLI access.

    • If you used server type defaults, check that you have the correct server type and click Set Defaults again to reset the default values.

  • If you typed in your base-distinguished name, click Fetch DNs to retrieve all the available base distinguished names on the server, and select the name from the list.

  • If you are using any filters, access attributes, or advanced settings, check that each is valid and typed correctly.

  • If you are using any filters, access attributes, or advanced settings, try removing each setting and testing the object without it.

  • If you are using a base filter or a shell access filter, make sure that the filter is enclosed in parentheses and that you are using a valid comparison operator (maximum 450 characters, including the enclosing parentheses).

  • To test a more restricted base filter, try setting it to the base distinguished name for the user to retrieve just that user.

  • If you are using an encrypted connection:

    • Check that the name of the LDAP server in the certificate matches the host name that you use to connect.

    • Check that you have not used an IPv6 address with an encrypted server connection.

  • If you are using a test user, make sure that the user name and password are typed correctly.

  • If you are using a test user, remove the user credentials and test the object.

  • Test the query that you are using by connecting to the LDAP server and using this syntax: 

    
ldapsearch -x -b 'base_distinguished_name'
-h LDAPserver_ip_address -p port -v -D
'user_distinguished_name' -W 'base_filter'

    For example, if you are trying to connect to the security domain on myrtle.example.com using the domainadmin@myrtle.example.com user and a base filter of (cn=*), you could test the connection using this statement: 

    
ldapsearch -x -b 'CN=security,DC=myrtle,DC=example,DC=com'
-h myrtle.example.com -p 389 -v -D
'domainadmin@myrtle.example.com' -W '(cn=*)'

If you can test your connection successfully but authentication does not work after you deploy a platform settings policy, check that authentication and the object you want to use are both enabled in the platform settings policy that is applied to the device.

If you connect successfully but want to adjust the list of users retrieved by your connection, you can add or change a base filter or shell access filter or use a more restrictive or less restrictive base DN.

While authenticating a connection to Active Directory (AD) server, rarely the connection event log indicates blocked LDAP traffic although the connection to AD server is successful. This incorrect connection log occurs when the AD server sends a duplicate reset packet. The Firepower Threat Defense device identifies the second reset packet as part of a new connection request and logs the connection with Block action.

History for User Accounts for FMC

Feature

Version

Details

Added a new field for name in user accounts

6.6

Added a field that can identify the user or department responsible for an internal user account.

New/Modified screens:

System > Users > Users> Real Name field
Cisco Security Manager Single Sign-on no longer supported 6.5

Single Sign-on between the FMC and Cisco Security Manager is no longer supported as of Firepower 6.5.

New/Modified screens:

System > Users> CSM Single Sign-on

Enhanced password security

6.5

New requirements for strong passwords now appear in a single place in this chapter and are cross-referenced from other chapters.

No modified screens

Supported Platforms: FMC