Cisco Unified Communications Manager Security Guide, Release 9.1(1)
FIPS 140-2 mode setup
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FIPS 140-2 mode setup

This chapter provides information about FIPS 140-2 mode setup.

FIPS 140-2 setup


Warning

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) 8.6(1) is the only version at this time that has been through FIPS 140-2 Level 1 compliance. FIPS mode is only supported on releases that have been through FIPS compliance. Be warned that FIPS mode should be disabled prior to upgrading to a non-FIPS compliance version of Unified CM.

FIPS, or Federal Information Processing Standard, is a U.S. and Canadian government certification standard that defines requirements that cryptographic modules must follow.

Unified CM 8.6(1) is FIPS 140-2 compliant, in accordance with the U.S. National Institute of Standards (NIST), and can operate in FIPS mode, level 1 compliance.

When you enable FIPS 140-2 mode, Unified CM reboots, runs certification self-tests at startup, performs the cryptographic modules integrity check, and then regenerates the keying materials. At this point, Unified CM operates in FIPS 140-2 mode.

Unified CM 8.6(1) meets FIPS requirements, including the following: it performs startup self-tests and restricts to a list of approved cryptographic functions.

Unified CM FIPS mode uses the following FIPS 140-2 level 1 validated cryptographic modules:

  • Openssl 0.9.8l with FIPS Module 1.2
  • RSA CryptoJ 4.1
  • Red Hat Openssl
  • Red Hat Openswan
  • NSS

In Unified CM, you can perform the following FIPS-related tasks:

  • Enable FIPS 140-2 mode
  • Disable FIPS 140-2 mode
  • Check the status of FIPS 140-2 mode

Note

By default, Unified CM is in non-FIPS mode. The administrator must enable FIPS mode.

Enable FIPS 140-2 mode


Warning

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) 8.6(1) is the only version at this time that has been through FIPS 140-2 Level 1 compliance. FIPS mode is only supported on releases that have been through FIPS compliance. Be warned that FIPS mode should be disabled prior to upgrading to a non-FIPS compliance version of Unified CM.

You can enable FIPS 140-2 through the CLI. For more information, see the Command Line Interface Reference Guide for Cisco Unifed Communications Solutions.

Consider the following information before you enable FIPS 140-2 mode on Unified CM:

  • In single server clusters, because certificates are regenerated, you need to run the CTL Client or apply the Prepare Cluster for Rollback to pre-8.0 enterprise parameter before you enable FIPS mode. If you do not perform either of these steps, you must manually delete the ITL file after you enable FIPS mode.
  • After you enable FIPS mode on a server, please wait until the server reboots and the phones re-register successfully before enabling FIPS on the next server.

Caution

Before you enable FIPS mode, we strongly recommend that you perform a system backup. If FIPS checks fail at start-up, the system halts and requires a recovery CD to be restored.

To enable FIPS 140-2 Mode, perform the following procedure:

Procedure
    Step 1   Start a CLI session.

    For more information, see Starting a CLI Session in the Command Line Interface Reference Guide for Cisco Unifed Communications Solutions.

    Step 2   In the CLI, enter utils fips enable

    The following prompts appear:

    Security Warning: The operation will regenerate certificates for1)CallManager
2)Tomcat
3)IPsec
4)TVS
5)CAPF
6)SSH 
Any third party CA signed certificates that have been uploaded for the above components will need to be re-uploaded. 
If the system is operating in mixed mode, then the CTL client needs to be run again to update the CTL file.
******************************************************************************
This will change the system to FIPS mode and will reboot.
******************************************************************************
Do you want to continue (yes/no)?
    Step 3   Enter yes.

    The following message appears:

    Generating certificates...Setting FIPS mode in operating system.
FIPS mode enabled successfully.
********************************************************
It is highly recommended that after your system restarts
that a system backup is performed.
********************************************************
The system will reboot in a few minutes.

    Unified CM reboots automatically.

    Note   

    Certificates and SSH key are regenerated automatically, in accordance with FIPS requirements.

    Note   

    If you have a single server cluster and applied the Prepare Cluster for Rollback to pre 8.0 enterprise parameter prior to enabling FIPS 140-2 mode, you must disable this enterprise parameter after making sure that all the phones registered successfully to the server.

    Note   

    In FIPS mode, Unified CM uses RedHat Openswan (FIPS validated) in place of Racoon (non-FIPS validated). If the security policies in Racoon contain functions that are not FIPS approved, the CLI command will ask you to redefine the security policies with FIPS approved functions and abort. For more information, see topics related to IPsec Management in the Cisco Unified Communications Operating System Administration Guide.

    Disable FIPS 140-2 mode

    FIPS 140-2 is disabled through the CLI. For more information, see the Command Line Interface Reference Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Solutions.

    Consider the following information before you disable FIPS 140-2 mode on Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM):

    • In single or multiple server clusters, we strongly recommend that you run the CTL Client. If the CTL Client is not run on a single server cluster, you must manually delete the ITL File after disabling FIPS mode.
    • In multiple server clusters, each server must be disabled separately, because FIPS mode is not disabled cluster-wide but rather on a per-server basis.

    To disable FIPS 140-2 mode, perform the following procedure:

    Procedure
      Step 1   Start a CLI Session.

      For more information, see the Starting a CLI Session section in the Command Line Interface Reference Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Solutions.

      Step 2   In the CLI, enter utils fips disable

      Unified CM reboots and is restored to non-FIPS mode.

      Note   

      Certificates and SSH key are regenerated automatically, in accordance with FIPS requirements.

      Check FIPS 140-2 mode status

      To confirm that FIPS 140-2 mode is enabled, check the mode status from the CLI.

      To check the status of FIPS 140-2 mode, perform the following procedure:

      Procedure
        Step 1   Start a CLI Session.

        For more information, see the Starting a CLI Session section in the Command Line Interface Reference Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Solutions.

        Step 2   In the CLI, enter utils fips status

        The following message appears to confirm that FIPS 140-2 mode is enabled.

        admin:utils fips status
The system is operating in FIPS mode. Self test status: 

- S T A R T ---------------------
Executing FIPS selftests
runlevel is N 3
Start time: Thu Apr 28 15:59:24 PDT 2011
NSS self tests passed.
Kernel Crypto tests passed.
Operating System OpenSSL self tests passed.
Openswan self tests passed.
OpenSSL self tests passed.
CryptoJ self tests passed...

        FIPS 140-2 mode server reboot

        When a Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) server reboots in FIPS 140-2 mode, it will trigger FIPS startup self-tests in each of the FIPS 140-2 modules after rebooting.


        Caution

        If any of these self-tests fail, the Unified CM server halts.


        Note

        A Unified CM server is automatically rebooted when FIPS is enabled or disabled with the corresponding CLI command. A user can also initiate a reboot.


        Caution

        If the startup self-test failed because of a transient error, restarting the Unified CM server fixes the issue. However, if the startup self-test error persists, it indicates a critical problem in the FIPS module and the only option is to use a recovery CD.