User Accounts for Management Access

The Firepower Management Center and managed devices include a default admin account for management access. This chapter discusses how to create custom user accounts for supported models. See Logging into the Firepower System for detailed information about logging into the Firepower Management Center or a managed device with a user account.

This chapter also describes Cisco Security Manager (CSM) single sign-on when you manage an ASA with CSM and the FirePOWER services module with the Firepower Management Center.

About User Accounts

You can add custom user accounts on the Firepower Management Center and on managed devices, either as internal users or, if supported for your model, as external users on a LDAP or RADIUS server. Each Firepower Management Center and each managed device maintains separate user accounts. For example, when you add a user to the Firepower Management Center, 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

Firepower devices support two types of users:

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

  • 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 or Shell Access

When you configure user accounts, you enable web interface access and CLI or shell access separately. Firepower devices include a Firepower CLI that runs on top of Linux. CLI users can also access the Linux shell under TAC supervision or when explicitly instructed by Firepower user documentation. For detailed information about the management UIs, see Firepower System User Interfaces.


Caution

On all devices, users with CLI Config level access or shell access can obtain sudoers privileges in the Linux shell, which can present a security risk. For system security reasons, we strongly recommend:

  • If you establish external authentication, make sure that you restrict the list of users with CLI/shell access appropriately.

  • When granting CLI access privileges, restrict the list of users with Config level access.

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

  • Do not access Firepower devices using the Linux shell or CLI expert mode unless directed by Cisco TAC or by explicit instructions in the Firepower user documentation.

Each device type supports different forms of access as detailed here:

  • For Firepower Threat Defense, ASA FirePOWER, and NGIPSv, CLI access is available for direct management of the device.

    • You can create internal users on these devices using the CLI.

    • You can establish external users on Firepower Threat Defense devices.

    • Users who log into these devices through the management interface access the CLI. Users with CLI Config level access can access the Linux shell using the CLI expert command.


      Caution

      We strongly recommend that you do not use the Linux shell unless directed by Cisco TAC or explicit instructions in the Firepower user documentation.

  • The FMC has a web interface, a CLI, and Linux shell for direct management of the device.

    • The FMC supports two different internal admin users: one for the web interface, and another with CLI or shell access. These two admin users are different accounts and do not share the same password. 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/shell admin, use the FMC CLI command configure password.)

    • FMC internal users added in the web interface have web interface access only.

    • You can grant CLI or shell access to FMC external users.

    • On the FMC by default, when any account with shell or CLI access logs in to the management interface, it directly accesses the Linux shell. When you enable the FMC CLI, these users first gain access to the CLI on logging in and may gain access to the shell with the expert command. See Firepower Management Center Command Line Reference.

  • 7000 and 8000 Series devices have both a web interface and a CLI for direct management of the device.

    • 7000 and 8000 Series device internal users have web interface and CLI access.

    • You can enable CLI or shell access for 7000 and 8000 Series device external users.

    • Users who log into these devices through the management interface access the CLI. Users with CLI Config level access can access the shell using the shell expert command.


      Caution

      We strongly recommend that you do not use the Linux shell unless directed by Cisco TAC or explicit instructions in the FMC documentation.

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.

Web Interface User Roles

The 7000 and 8000 Series devices have access to the following user roles: Administrator, Maintenance User, and Security Analyst.

The Firepower Management Center includes the following predefined user roles:

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

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.

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.

CLI User Roles

On managed devices, user access to commands in the CLI depends on the role you assign.


Note

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

None

The user cannot log into the device on the command line.

Config

The user can access all commands, including configuration commands. Exercise caution in assigning this level of access to users.

Basic

The user can access non-configuration commands only.


Note

External CLI users on managed devices always have the Config user role.

Requirements and Prerequisites for User Accounts

Model Support

External user authentication is supported for the following models:

  • Firepower Management Center

  • Firepower Threat Defense

  • 7000 and 8000 Series

Guidelines and Limitations for User Accounts

Defaults

  • All devices include 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.

  • 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.

Global Settings

By default the following settings apply to all user accounts on the Firepower Management Center:

  • 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.

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

Add an Internal User Account

Each device maintains separate user accounts. The Firepower Management Center and 7000 and 8000 Series have similar web interfaces. For the Firepower Threat Defense, NGIPSv, and ASA FirePOWER, you must add internal users at the CLI. You cannot add users at the CLI on the Firepower Management Center and 7000 and 8000 Series.

Add an Internal User at the Web Interface

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

FMC

7000 & 8000 Series

Any

Administrator

This procedure describes how to add custom internal user accounts at the web interface of a Firepower Management Center or 7000 & 8000 Series device.

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 Firepower Management Center, 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

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 5

Enter values in the Password and Confirm Password fields.

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

Step 6

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 7

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 8

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 9

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 10

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. A strong password must be at least eight alphanumeric characters of mixed case and must include at least 1 numeric character and 1 special character. It cannot be a word that appears in a dictionary or include consecutive repeating characters.

  • 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 11

(7000 or 8000 Series) Assign the appropriate level of Command-Line Interface Access as described in CLI User Roles.

Note

 

Unlike for the 7000 or 8000 Series, you cannot enable shell access for Firepower Management Center internal users. (On the FMC you can enable shell access for external users, but we recommend against doing so for system security reasons.)

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 (Firepower Management Center only) deployment.

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

  • Multidomain (Firepower Management Center only)—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 Overviewfor more information about Lights-Out Management.

Step 14

Click Save.

Add an Internal User at the CLI

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

Firepower Threat Defense

ASA FirePOWER

NGIPSv

Any

Config

Use the CLI to create internal users on the Firepower Threat Defense, ASA FirePOWER, and NGIPSv devices. These devices do not have a web interface, so internal (and external) users can only access the CLI for management.

Procedure

Step 1

Log into the device CLI using an account with Config privileges.

The admin user account has the required privileges, but any account with Config privileges will work. You can use an SSH session or the Console port.

For certain Firepower Threat Defense models, the Console port puts you into the FXOS CLI. Use the connect ftd command to get to the Firepower Threat Defense CLI.

Step 2

Create the user account.

configure user add username {basic | config}

  • username —Sets the username. The username 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 (/)

  • basic —Gives the user basic access. This role does not allow the user to enter configuration commands.

  • config —Gives the user configuration access. This role gives the user full administrator rights to all commands.

Example:

The following example adds a user account named johncrichton with Config access rights. The password is not shown as you type it. 


> configure user add johncrichton config
Enter new password for user johncrichton: newpassword
Confirm new password for user johncrichton: newpassword
> show user
Login              UID   Auth Access  Enabled Reset    Exp Warn  Str Lock Max
admin             1000  Local Config  Enabled    No  Never  N/A  Dis   No N/A
johncrichton      1001  Local Config  Enabled    No  Never  N/A  Dis   No   5

Note

 

Tell users they can change their own passwords using the configure password command.

Step 3

(Optional) Adjust the characteristics of the account to meet your security requirements.

You can use the following commands to change the default account behavior.

  • configure user aging username max_days warn_days

    Sets an expiration date for the user's password. Specify the maximum number of days for the password to be valid followed by the number of days before expiration the user will be warned about the upcoming expiration. Both values are 1 to 9999, but the warning days must be less than the maximum days. When you create the account, there is no expiration date for the password.

  • configure user forcereset username

    Forces the user to change the password on the next login.

  • configure user maxfailedlogins username number

    Sets the maximum number of consecutive failed logins you will allow before locking the account, from 1 to 9999. Use the configure user unlock command to unlock accounts. The default for new accounts is 5 consecutive failed logins.

  • configure user minpasswdlen username number

    Sets a minimum password length, which can be from 1 to 127.

  • configure user strengthcheck username { enable | disable}

    Enables or disables password strength checking, which requires a user to meet specific password criteria when changing their password. When a user’s password expires or if the configure user forcereset command is used, this requirement is automatically enabled the next time the user logs in.

Step 4

Manage user accounts as necessary.

Users can get locked out of their accounts, or you might need to remove accounts or fix other issues. Use the following commands to manage the user accounts on the system.

  • configure user access username { basic | config}

    Changes the privileges for a user account.

  • configure user delete username

    Deletes the specified account.

  • configure user disable username

    Disables the specified account without deleting it. The user cannot log in until you enable the account.

  • configure user enable username

    Enables the specified account.

  • configure user password username

    Changes the password for the specified user. Users should normally change their own password using the configure password command.

  • configure user unlock username

    Unlocks a user account that was locked due to exceeding the maximum number of consecutive failed login attempts.

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 for management and administrative users of your Firepower system, the device verifies the user credentials with an LDAP or RADIUS server as specified in an external authentication object.

External authentication objects can be used by the Firepower Management Center, 7000 and 8000 Series, and Firepower Threat Defense devices. You can share the same object between the different appliance/device types, or create separate objects.


Attention

External authentication is not supported on Firepower Threat Defense virtual devices.

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 the 7000 and 8000 Series and 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/shell users in the external authentication object. For CLI/shell 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/shell access that is also configured for CAC authentication.


Note
Users with Linux shell access can obtain root privileges, which can present a security risk. Make sure that you:

  • restrict the list of users with Linux shell access

  • do not create Linux shell users

External Authentication for the Firepower Management Center and 7000 and 8000 Series

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 or shell access. If you have more than one external authentication object enabled, then users can authenticate using only the first object in the list. External CLI users on 7000 or 8000 Series devices always have Config privileges; other user roles are not supported.

External Authentication for the Firepower Threat Defense

For the Firepower Threat Defense, you can only activate one external authentication object.

Only a subset of fields in the external authentication object are used for Firepower Threat Defense SSH access. If you fill in additional fields, they are ignored. If you also use this object for other device types, those fields will be used.


Attention

External authentication is not supported on Firepower Threat Defense virtual devices.

External users always have Config privileges; other user roles are not supported.

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

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

Firepower Threat Defense

7000 and 8000 Series

FMC

Any

Administrator

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

For the Firepower Threat Defense, only a subset of fields are used for CLI access. See Configure External Authentication for SSH for details about which fields are used.

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 or Modify Management Interfaces at the CLI 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. In the LDAP directory tree, Base DN is the entry that contains the subtree in which your users exists. 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. To limit the number of authenticated users, extend the Base DN filter by specifying the attribute and value for the user objects. 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 retrieve only active user accounts (excluding the disabled user accounts), enter (!(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)). This criteria filters user accounts within AD belonging to ldpgrp group and with userAccountControl attribute value that is not 2 (disabled).

  1. 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.

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

  3. (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. For SSL, the Firepower Threat Defense also requires a certificate. For other platforms, SSL does not require a certificate. However, 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. The default is 30.

Step 12

(Optional) Configure Attribute Matching 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/shell access users by typing sAMAccountName.

Step 13

(Optional) Configure Group Controlled Access Roles.

Group controlled access roles allows you to grant privileges to the users belonging to the specified groups. 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.

Note

 

Configuring group controlled access roles does not limit the filter criteria on the LDAP server. To extend the user filter beyond the Base DN, use the Base Filter option.

  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/shell users.

To prevent LDAP authentication of CLI/shell access, leave this field blank. To specify CLI/shell 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 (maximum 450 characters, including the enclosing 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

 

For the 7000 or 8000 Series and Firepower Management Center, 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.

For the Firepower Threat Defense, if you previously configured the same username for an internal user, the Firepower Threat Defense first checks the password against the internal user, and if that fails, it checks the LDAP server. Note that you cannot later add an internal user with the same name as an external user; only pre-existing internal users are supported.

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:

Step 19

If you later add or delete users on the LDAP server, you must refresh the user list and redeploy the Platform Settings on managed devices. This step is not required for the Firepower Management Center.

  1. Click the Refresh (refresh icon) next to each LDAP server.

    If the user list changed, you will see a message advising you to deploy configuration changes for your device.

  2. For 7000 and 8000 Series devices, make a small configuration change in the Platform Settings so that the settings are marked as Out-of-Date. 7000 and 8000 Series Platform Settings are not automatically marked as Out-of-Date for LDAP shell user list updates.

    Note that the Firepower Threat Defense Platform Setttings are automatically marked as Out-of-Date, so you do not need to perform this workaround.

  3. Deploy configuration changes; see Deploy Configuration Changes.

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 shell or 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/shell 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 shell or CLI as through the web interface.

Screenshot of the Shell Access Filter settings.

Add a RADIUS External Authentication Object

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

Firepower Threat Defense

7000 and 8000 Series

FMC

Any

Administrator

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

For the Firepower Threat Defense, only a subset of fields are used for CLI access. See Configure External Authentication for SSH for details about which fields are used.

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. The default is 30.

  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/shell 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/shell access for , leave the field blank.

Note

 

For the 7000 or 8000 Series and Firepower Management Center, remove any internal users that have the same user name as users included in the shell access filter. For the Firepower Management Center, the only internal CLI/shell user is admin, so do not also create an admin external user.

For the Firepower Threat Defense, if you previously configured the same username for an internal user, the Firepower Threat Defense first checks the password against the internal user, and if that fails, it checks the RADIUS server. Note that you cannot later add an internal user with the same name as an external user; only pre-existing internal users are supported.

Step 13

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

This function can only test FMC connectivity to the RADIUS server; there is no test function for managed device 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:

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/shell 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 Firepower Management Center

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

FMC

Any

Admin

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

Before you begin

Add 1 or more external authentication objects according to Add an LDAP External Authentication Object and Add a RADIUS External Authentication Object.

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/shell 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/shell 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/shell

Step 7

Click Save and Apply.

Configure Common Access Card Authentication with LDAP

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

FMC

7000 and 8000 Series

Any

Administrator

Network Admin

If your organization uses Common Access Cards (CACs), you can configure LDAP authentication to authenticate FMC or 7000 and 8000 Series 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. 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 Firepower Management Center or Enable External Authentication to 7000/8000 Series Devices.

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 or Logging Into a 7000 or 8000 Series Device 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 Web Interface User Roles.


Note

CLI/shell user roles for managed devices are limited to Config and Basic roles. See CLI User Roles for more information.

Create Custom User Roles

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

FMC

7000 & 8000 Series

Any

Administrator

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.


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. Example 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

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

FMC

7000 & 8000 Series

Any

Administrator

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

For the Firepower Management Center, 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

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

FMC

Any

Administrator

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

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Device

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

FMC

Any

Administrator

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

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Device

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

FMC

Any

Any

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.

Configure Cisco Security Manager Single Sign-on

Smart License

Classic License

Supported Devices

Supported Domains

Access

Any

Any

ASA FirePOWER

Any

Administrator

Single sign-on enables integration between Cisco Security Manager (CSM) Version 4.7 or higher and the Firepower Management Center, which allows you to access the Firepower Management Center from CSM without additional authentication to log in. When managing an ASA with the ASA FirePOWER module, you may want to modify the policies deployed to the module. You can select the managing Firepower Management Center in CSM and launch it in a web browser.


Note

You cannot log in with single sign-on if your organization uses CACs for authentication.

Before you begin

  • In NAT environments, the Firepower Management Center and CSM must reside on the same side of the NAT boundary.

Procedure

Step 1

From CSM, generate a single sign-on shared encryption key that identifies the connection. See your CSM documentation for more information.

Step 2

From the Firepower Management Center, choose System > Users.

Step 3

Choose CSM Single Sign-on.

Step 4

Enter the CSM hostname or IP address and the server Port.

Step 5

Enter the Shared key that you generated from CSM.

Step 6

(Optional) Click the Use Proxy For Connection check box if you want to use the Firepower Management Center’s proxy server to communicate with CSM.

Step 7

Click Submit.

Step 8

Click Confirm Certificate to save the Certificate.

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 the user has 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 shell 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.

  • 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 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.

History for User Accounts

Feature

Version

Details

External Authentication for Firepower Threat Defense SSH Access

6.2.3

You can now configure external authentication for SSH access to the Firepower Threat Defense using LDAP or RADIUS.

New/Modified screens:

Devices > Platform Settings > External Authentication

Supported platforms: Firepower Threat Defense