Hardware and Virtual Hardware

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) virtual deployments

We introduced FMCv and FTDv for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) virtual deployments

We introduced FMCv and FTDv for Google Cloud Platform.

High availability support on FMCv for VMware

FMCv for VMWare now supports High Availability.

You configure FMCv HA just as you would on hardware models. You will need two licensed identical FMCv's (for example, two (2) x FMCv300). For example, to manage 10 FTD devices with an FMCv10 HA pair, you need two (2) FMCv10 entitlements and 10 FTD entitlements. The "extra" entitlements are released if you break FMCv HA. (You would then have two standalone FMCv10’s.) For managed Classic (NGIPS) devices, no FMCv entitlements are required.

Supported platforms: FMCv for 10, 25, and 300 devices only (No support for FMCv for 2 devices), running on VMWare

Auto Scale improvements for FTDv for AWS

Version 6.7.0 includes the following Auto Scale improvements for FTDv for AWS:

• Custom Metric Publisher. A new Lambda function polls the FMC every second minute for memory consumption of all FTDv instances in the Auto Scale group, then publishes the value to CloudWatch Metric.

• A new scaling policy based on memory consumption is available.

• FTDv private IP connectivity for SSH and Secure Tunnel to the FMC.

• FMC configuration validation.

• Support for opening more Listening ports on ELB.

• Modified to Single Stack deployment. All Lambda functions and AWS resources are deployed from a single stack for a streamlined deployment.

Supported platforms: FTDv for AWS

Auto Scale improvements for FTDv for Azure

The FTDv for Azure Auto Scale solution now includes support for scaling metrics based on CPU and memory (RAM), not just CPU.

Supported platforms: FTDv for Azure

Firepower Threat Defense: Device Management

Manage FTD on a data interface

You can now configure FMC management of the FTD on a data interface instead of using the dedicated management interface.

This feature is useful for remote deployment when you want to manage the FTD at a branch office from an FMC at headquarters and need to manage the FTD on the outside interface. If the FTD receives a public IP address using DHCP, then you can optionally configure Dynamic DNS (DDNS) for the interface using the web type update method. DDNS ensures the FMC can reach the FTD at its Fully-Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) if the FTD's IP address changes.

New/modified screens:

• Devices > Device Management > Device > Management section

• Devices > Device Management > Interfaces > FMC Access

• Devices > Device Management > DHCP > DDNS > DDNS Update Methods page

New/modified FTD CLI commands: configure network management-data-interface , configure policy rollback

Supported platforms: FTD

Update the FMC IP address on the FTD

If you change the FMC IP address, you can now use the FTD CLI to update the device.

New/modified FTD CLI commands: configure manager edit

Supported platforms: FTD

Synchronization between the FTD operational link state and the physical link state for the Firepower 4100/9300

The Firepower 4100/9300 chassis can now synchronize the FTD operational link state with the physical link state for data interfaces.

Currently, interfaces will be in an Up state as long as the FXOS admin state is up and the physical link state is up. The FTD application interface admin state is not considered. Without synchronization from FTD, data interfaces can be in an Up state physically before the FTD application has completely come online, for example, or can stay Up for a period of time after you initiate an FTD shutdown. For inline sets, this state mismatch can result in dropped packets because external routers may start sending traffic to the FTD before the FTD can handle it.

This feature is disabled by default, and can be enabled per logical device in FXOS.

New/modified Firepower Chassis Manager screens: Logical Devices > Enable Link State

New/modified FXOS commands: set link-state-sync enabled , show interface expand detail

Supported platforms: Firepower 4100/9300

Firepower 1100/2100 series SFP interfaces now support disabling auto-negotiation

You can now configure a Firepower 1100/2100 series SFP interface to disable auto-negotiation.

For 10 GB interfaces, you can configure the speed down to 1 GB without auto-negotiation; you cannot disable auto-negotiation for an interface with the speed set to 10 GB.

New/modified screens: Devices > Device Management > Interfaces > edit interface > Hardware Configuration > Speed

Supported platforms: Firepower 1100/2100 series

Firepower Threat Defense: Clustering

New cluster management functionality on the FMC

You can now use the FMC to perform the following cluster management tasks, where previously you had to use the CLI:

• Enable and disable cluster units.

• Show cluster status from the Device Management page, including History and Summary per unit.

• Change the role to the control unit.

New/modified screens:

• Devices > Device Management > More menu

• Devices > Device Management > Cluster > General area > Cluster Live Status link > Cluster Status

Supported platforms: Firepower 4100/9300

Faster cluster deployment

Cluster deployment now completes faster. Also, for most deployment failures, it fails more quickly.

Supported platforms: Firepower 4100/9300

Changes to PAT address allocation in clustering. The PAT pool Flat Port Range option is now enabled by default and it is not configurable.

Upgrade impact.

The way PAT addresses are distributed to the members of a cluster is changed.

Previously, addresses were distributed to the members of the cluster, so your PAT pool would need a minimum of one address per cluster member. Now, the control instead divides each PAT pool address into equal-sized port blocks and distributes them across cluster members. Each member has port blocks for the same PAT addresses. Thus, you can reduce the size of the PAT pool, even to as few as one IP address, depending on the amount of connections you typically need to PAT.

Port blocks are allocated in 512-port blocks from the 1024-65535 range. You can optionally include the reserved ports, 1-1023, in this block allocation when you configure PAT pool rules. For example, in a 4-node cluster, each node gets 32 blocks with which it will be able to handle 16384 connections per PAT pool IP address compared to a single node handling all 65535 connections per PAT pool IP address.

As part of this change, PAT pools for all systems, whether standalone or operating in a cluster, now use a flat port range of 1024–65535. Previously, you could use a flat range by enabling the Flat Port Range option in a PAT pool rule (Pat Pool tab in an FTD NAT rule). The Flat Port Range option is now ignored: the PAT pool is now always flat. You can optionally select the Include Reserved Ports option to include the 1–1023 port range within the PAT pool.

Note that if you configure port block allocation (the Block Allocation PAT pool option), your block allocation size is used rather than the default 512-port block. In addition, you cannot configure extended PAT for a PAT pool for systems in a cluster.

This change takes effect automatically. You do not need to do anything before or after upgrade.

Supported platforms: FTD

Firepower Threat Defense: Encryption and VPN

AnyConnect module support for RA VPN

FTD RA VPN now supports AnyConnect modules.

As part of your RA VPN group policy, you can now configure a variety of optional modules to be downloaded and installed when a user downloads the Cisco AnyConnect VPN client. These modules can provide services such as web security, malware protection, off-network roaming protection, and so on.

You must associate each module with a profile containing your custom configurations, created in the AnyConnect Profile Editor and uploaded to the FMC as an AnyConnect File object.

New/modified screens:

• Upload module profiles: We added new File Type options to Objects > Object Management > VPN > AnyConnect File > Add AnyConnect File

• Configure modules: We added Client Modules options to Objects > Object Management > VPN > Group Policy > add or edit a Group Policy object > AnyConnect settings

Supported platforms: FTD

AnyConnect management VPN tunnels for RA VPN

FTD RA VPN now supports an AnyConnect management VPN tunnel that allows VPN connectivity to endpoints when the corporate endpoints are powered on, not just when a VPN connection is established by the end user.

This feature helps administrators perform patch management on out-of-the-office endpoints, especially devices that are infrequently connected by the user, via VPN, to the office network. Endpoint operating system login scripts which require corporate network connectivity also benefit.

Supported platforms: FTD

Single sign-on for RA VPN

FTD RA VPN now supports single sign-on (SSO) for remote access VPN users configured at a SAML 2.0-compliant identity provider (IdP).

New/modified screens:

• Connect to an SSO server: Objects > Object Management > AAA Server > Single Sign-on Server

• Configure SSO as part of RA VPN: We added SAML as an authentication method (AAA settings) when configuring an RA VPN connection profile.

Supported platforms: FTD

LDAP authorization for RA VPN

FTD RA VPN now supports LDAP authorization using LDAP attribute maps.

An LDAP attribute map equates attributes that exist in the Active Directory (AD) or LDAP server with Cisco attribute names. Then, when the AD or LDAP server returns authentication to the FTD device during remote access VPN connection establishment, the FTD device can use the information to adjust how the AnyConnect client completes the connection.

Supported platforms: FTD

Virtual Tunnel Interface (VTI) and route-based site-to-site VPN

FTD site-to-site VPN now supports a logical interface called Virtual Tunnel Interface (VTI).

As an alternative to policy-based VPN, a VPN tunnel can be created between peers with Virtual Tunnel Interfaces configured. This supports route-based VPN with IPsec profiles attached to the end of each tunnel. This allows dynamic or static routes to be used. Using VTI does away with the requirement of configuring static crypto map access lists and mapping them to interfaces. Traffic is encrypted using static route or BGP. You can create a routed security zone, add VTI interfaces to it, and define access control rules for the decrypted traffic control over the VTI tunnel.

VTI-based VPNs can be created between:

• Two FTD devices

• An FTD device and a public cloud

• An FTD device and another FTD device with service provider redundancy

New/modified screens:

• Devices > Device Management > Interfaces > Add Interfaces > Virtual Tunnel Interface

• Devices > VPN > Site To Site > Add VPN > Firepower Threat Defense Device > Route Based (VTI)

Supported platforms: FTD

Dynamic RRI support for site-to-site VPN

FTD site-to-site VPN now supports Dynamic Reverse Route Injection (RRI) supported with IKEv2-based static crypto maps in site-to-site VPN deployments. This allowed static routes to be automatically inserted into the routing process for networks and hosts protected by a remote tunnel endpoint.

New/modified screens: We added the Enable Dynamic Reverse Route Injection advanced option when adding an endpoint to a site-to-site VPN topology.

Supported platforms: FTD

Enhancements to manual certificate enrollment

You can now obtain signed CA certificates and identity certificates from a CA authority independently of each other.

We made the following changes to PKI certificate enrollment objects, which store enrollment parameters for creating Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) and obtaining identity certificates:

• We added the CA Only option to the manual enrollment settings for PKI certificate enrollment objects. If you enable this option, you will receive only a signed CA certificate from the CA authority, and not the identity certificate.

• You can now leave the CA Certificate field blank in the manual enrollment settings for PKI certificate enrollment objects. If you do this, you will receive only the identity certificate from the CA authority, and not the signed CA certificate.

New/modified screens: Objects > Object Management > PKI > Cert Enrollment > Add Cert Enrollment > CA Information > Enrollment Type > Manual

Supported platforms: FTD

Enhancements to FTD certificate management

We made the following enhancements to FTD certificate management:

• You can now view the chain of certifying authorities (CAs) when viewing certificate contents.

• You can now export certificates.

New/modified screens:

• Devices > Certificates > Status column > View icon (magnifying glass)

• Devices > Certificates > Export icon

Supported platforms: FTD

Access Control: URL Filtering, Application Control, and Security Intelligence

URL filtering and application control on traffic encrypted with TLS 1.3 (TLS Server Identity Discovery)

You can now perform URL filtering and application control on traffic encrypted with TLS 1.3, by using information from the server certificate. You do not have decrypt the traffic for this feature to work.

New/modified screens: We added a TLS Server Identity Discovery warning and option to the access control policy's Advanced tab.

New/modified FTD CLI commands: We added the B flag to the output of the show conn detail command. On a TLS 1.3-encrypted connection, this flag indicates that we used the server certificate for application and URL detection.

Supported platforms: FTD

URL filtering on traffic to websites with unknown reputation

You can now perform URL filtering for websites that have an unknown reputation.

New/modified screens: We added an Apply to unknown reputation check box to the access control, QoS, and SSL rule editors.

Supported platforms: FMC

DNS filtering enhances URL filtering

Beta.

DNS filtering enhances URL filtering by determining the category and reputation of requested domains earlier in the transaction, including in encrypted traffic—but without decrypting the traffic. You enable DNS filtering per access control policy, where it applies to all category/reputation URL rules in that policy.

New/modified screens: We added the Enable reputation enforcement on DNS traffic option to the access control policy's Advanced tab, under General Settings.

Supported platforms: FMC

Shorter update frequencies for Security Intelligence feeds

The FMC can now update Security Intelligence data every 5 or 15 minutes. Previously, the shortest update frequency was 30 minutes.

If you configure one of these shorter frequencies on a custom feed, you must also configure the system to use an md5 checksum to determine whether the feed has updates to download.

New/modified screens: We added new options to Objects > Object Management > Security Intelligence > Network Lists and Feeds > edit feed > Update Frequency

Supported platforms: FMC

Access Control: User Control

pxGrid 2.0 with ISE/ISE-PIC

Upgrade impact.

Use pxGrid 2.0 when you connect the FMC to an ISE/ISE-PIC identity source. If you are still using pxGrid 1.0, switch now. That version is deprecated.

For use with pxGrid 2.0, Version 6.7.0 introduces the Cisco ISE Adaptive Network Control (ANC) remediation, which applies or clears ISE-configured ANC policies involved in a correlation policy violation.

If you used the Cisco ISE Endpoint Protection Services (EPS) remediation with pxGrid 1.0, configure and use the ANC remediation with pxGrid 2.0. ISE remediations will not launch if you are using the 'wrong' pxGrid. The ISE Connection Status Monitor health module alerts you to mismatches.

For detailed compatibility information for all supported Firepower versions, including integrated products, see the Cisco Firepower Compatibility Guide.

New/modified screens:

• Policies > Actions > Modules > Installed Remediation Modules list

• Policies > Actions > Instances > Select a module type drop-down list

Supported platforms: FMC

Realm sequences

You can now group realms into ordered realm sequences.

Add a realm sequence to an identity rule in the same way as you add a single realm. When applying the identity rule to network traffic, the system searches the Active Directory domains in the order specified. You cannot create realm sequences for LDAP realms.

New/modified screens: System > Integration > Realm Sequences

Supported platforms: FMC

ISE subnet filtering

Especially useful on lower-memory devices, you can now use the CLI to exclude subnets from receiving user-to-IP and Security Group Tag (SGT)-to-IP mappings from ISE.

The Snort Identity Memory Usage health module alerts when memory usage exceeds a certain level, which by default is 80%.

New device CLI command: configure identity-subnet-filter { add | remove}

Supported platforms: FMC-managed devices

Access Control: Intrusion and Malware Prevention

Improved preclassification of files for dynamic analysis

Upgrade impact.

The system can now decide not to submit a suspected malware file for dynamic analysis, based on the static analysis results (for example, a file with no dynamic elements).

After you upgrade, in the Captured Files table, these files will have a Dynamic Analysis Status of Rejected for Analysis.

Supported platforms: FMC

S7Commplus preprocessor

The new S7Commplus preprocessor supports the widely accepted S7 industrial protocol. You can use it to apply corresponding intrusion and preprocessor rules, drop malicious traffic, and generate intrusion events.

New/modified screens:

• Enable the preprocessor: In the network analysis policy editor, click Settings (you must click the word 'Settings'), and enable S7Commplus Configuration under SCADA Preprocessors.

• Configure the preprocessor: In the network analysis policy editor, under Settings, click S7Commplus Configuration.

• Configure S7Commplus preprocessor rules: In the intrusion policy editor, click Rules > Preprocessors > S7 Commplus Configurations.

Supported platforms: all FTD devices, including ISA 3000

Custom intrusion rule import warns when rules collide

The FMC now warns you of rule collisions when you import custom (local) intrusion rules. Previously, the FMC would silently skip the rules that cause collisions—with the exception of Version 6.6.0.1, where a rule import with collisions would fail entirely.

Note that a collision occurs when you try to import an intrusion rule that has the same SID/revision number as an existing rule. You should always make sure that updated versions of custom rules have new revision numbers. We recommend you read the best practices for importing local intrusion rules in the Firepower Management Center Configuration Guide.

New/modified screens: We added a warning icon to System > Updates > Rule Updates.

Supported platforms: FMC

Access Control: TLS/SSL Decryption

ClientHello modification for Decrypt - Known Key TLS/SSL rules

Upgrade impact.

If you configure TLS/SSL decryption, when a managed device receives a ClientHello message, the system now attempts to match the message to TLS/SSL rules that have the Decrypt - Known Key action. Previously, the system only matched ClientHello messages to Decrypt - Resign rules.

The match relies on data from the ClientHello message and from cached server certificate data. If the message matches, the device modifies the ClientHello message in specific ways; see the ClientHello Message Handling topic in the Firepower Management Center Configuration Guide.

Supported platforms: Any device

Event Logging and Analysis

Remote data storage and cross-launch with an on-prem Stealthwatch solution

You can now store large volumes of Firepower event data off-FMC, using an on-premises Stealthwatch solution: Cisco Security Analytics and Logging (On Premises).

When viewing events in FMC, you can quickly cross-launch to view events in your remote data storage location. The FMC uses syslog to send connection, Security Intelligence, intrusion, file, and malware events.

Supported platforms: FMC

Quickly add Stealthwatch contextual cross-launch resources

A new page on the FMC allows you to quickly add contextual cross-launch resources for your Stealthwatch appliance.

After you add Stealthwatch resources, you manage them on the general contextual cross-launch page. This is where you continue to manually create and manage non-Stealthwatch cross-launch resources.

New/modified screens:

• Add Stealthwatch resources: System > Logging > Security Analytics and Logging

• Manage resources: Analysis > Advanced > Contextual Cross-Launch

Supported platform: FMC

New cross-launch options field types

You can now cross-launch into an external resource using the following additional types of event data:

• Access control policy

• Intrusion policy

• Application protocol

• Client application

• Web application

• Username (including realm)

New/modified screens:

• New variables when creating or editing cross-launch query links: Analysis > Advanced > Contextual Cross-Launch.

• New data types in the dashboard and event viewer now offer cross-launch on right click.

Supported platforms: FMC

National Vulnerability Database (NVD) replaces Bugtraq

Upgrade impact.

Bugtraq vulnerability data is no longer available. Most vulnerability data now comes from the NVD. To support this change, we made the following changes:

• Added the CVE ID and Severity fields to the Vulnerabilities table. Right-clicking the CVE ID in the table view allows you to view details about the vulnerability on the NVD.

• Renamed the Vulnerability Impact field to Impact (in the table view only).

• Removed the obsolete/redundant Bugtraq ID, Title, Available Exploits, Technical Description, and Solution fields.

• Removed the Bugtraq ID filtering option from the Hosts network map.

If you export vulnerability data, make sure any integrations are working as expected after the upgrade.

Supported platforms: FMC

Upgrade

Pre-upgrade compatibility check

Upgrade impact.

In FMC deployments, Firepower appliances must now pass pre-upgrade compatibility checks before you can run more complex readiness checks or attempt to upgrade. This check catches issues that will cause your upgrade to fail—but we now catch them earlier and block you from proceeding.

The checks are as follows:

• You cannot use the FMC to upgrade a Firepower 4100/9300 chassis to Version 6.7.0+ until you upgrade FXOS to the new release's companion FXOS version; see Firepower Devices.

  Upgrade is blocked as long as you are upgrading the device to Version 6.7.0 or later. For example, you are not blocked from attempting a Firepower 4100/9300 upgrade from 6.3 → 6.6.x, even if the device is running a version of FXOS that is too old for Firepower Version 6.6.x.

• You cannot use the FMC to upgrade a device if that device has out-of-date configurations.

  Upgrade is blocked as long as the FMC is running Version 6.7.0 or later, and you are upgrading a managed device to a valid target. For example, you are blocked from upgrading a device from 6.3.0 → 6.6.x if the device has outdated configurations.

• You cannot upgrade an FMC from Version 6.7.0+ if its devices have out-of-date configurations.

  Upgrade is blocked as long as the FMC is running Version 6.7.0 or later. For upgrades from earlier versions (including to Version 6.7.0), you must make sure you deploy yourself.

When you select an upgrade package to install, the FMC displays compatibility check results for all eligible appliances. The new Readiness Check page also displays this information. You cannot upgrade until you fix the issues indicated.

New/modified screens:

• System > Update > Product Updates > Available Updates > Install icon for the upgrade package

• System > Update > Product Updates > Readiness Checks

Supported platforms: FMC, FTD

Improved readiness checks

Upgrade impact.

Readiness checks assess a Firepower appliance's preparedness for a software upgrade. These checks include database integrity, file system integrity, configuration integrity, disk space, and so on.

After you upgrade the FMC to Version 6.7.0, you will see the following improvements to FTD upgrade readiness checks:

• Readiness checks are faster.

• Readiness checks are now supported on high availability and clustered FTD devices, without having to log into the device CLI.

• Readiness checks for FTD device upgrades to Version 6.7.0+ no longer require the upgrade package to reside on the device. Although we still recommend you push the upgrade package to the device before you begin the upgrade itself, you no longer have to do so before you run the readiness check.

• When you select an upgrade package to install, the FMC now shows the readiness status for all applicable FTD devices. A new Readiness Checks page allows you to view the results of readiness checks for the FTD devices in your deployment. You can also re-run readiness checks from this page.

• Readiness check results include the estimated upgrade time (but do not include reboot time).

• Error messages are better. You can also download success/failure logs from the Message Center on the FMC.

Note that these improvements are supported for FTD upgrades from Version 6.3.0+, as long as the FMC is running Version 6.7.0+.

New/modified screens:

• System > Update > Product Updates > Available Updates > Install icon for the upgrade package

• System > Update > Product Updates > Readiness Checks

• Message Center > Tasks

Supported platforms: FTD

Improved FTD upgrade status reporting and cancel/retry options

Upgrade impact.

You can now view the status of device upgrades and readiness checks in progress on the Device Management page, as well as a 7-day history of upgrade success/failures. The Message Center also provides enhanced status and error messages.

A new Upgrade Status pop-up, accessible from both Device Management and the Message Center with a single click, shows detailed upgrade information, including percentage/time remaining, specific upgrade stage, success/failure data, upgrade logs, and so on.

Also on this pop-up, you can manually cancel failed or in-progress upgrades (Cancel Upgrade), or retry failed upgrades (Retry Upgrade). Canceling an upgrade reverts the device to its pre-upgrade state.

New/modified screens:

• System > Update > Product Updates > Available Updates > Install icon for the FTD upgrade package

• Devices > Device Management > Upgrade

• Message Center > Tasks

New FTD CLI commands:

• show upgrade status detail

• show upgrade status continuous

• show upgrade status

• upgrade cancel

• upgrade retry

Supported platforms: FTD

Upgrades postpone scheduled tasks

Upgrade impact.

FMC upgrades now postpone scheduled tasks. Any task scheduled to begin during the upgrade will begin five minutes after the post-upgrade reboot.

Note that this feature is supported for all upgrades from a supported version. As of November 2020 this includes Version 6.4.0.10 and later patches, and Version 6.7.0+. This feature is not supported for upgrades to a supported version from an unsupported version.

Supported platforms: FMC

Upgrades remove PCAP files to save disk space

Upgrade impact.

To upgrade a Firepower appliance, you must have enough free disk space or the upgrade fails. Upgrades now remove locally stored PCAP files.

Supported platforms: Any

Deployment and Policy Management

Configuration rollback

Beta.

You can now "roll back" configurations on an FTD device, replacing them with the previously deployed configurations.

New/modified pages: Deploy > Deployment History > Rollback column and icons.

Supported platforms: FTD

FTD configuration backup and restore using FMC for container instances

You can now use the FMC backup/restore tool on an FTD container instance.

New/Modified FMC screens: System > Tools > Backup/Restore > Managed Device Backup

New/Modified FTD CLI commands: restore

Supported platforms: Firepower 4100/9300

Deploy intrusion and file policies independently of access control policies

You can now select and deploy intrusion and file policies independently of access control policies, unless there are dependent changes.

New/modified screens: Deploy > Deployment

Supported platforms: FMC

Search access control rule comments

You can now search within access control rules comments.

New/modified screens: In the access control policy editor, we added the Comments field to the Search Rules drop-down dialog.

Supported platforms: FMC

Search and filter FTD NAT rules

You can now search for rules in an FTD NAT policy to help you find rules based on IP addresses, ports, object names, and so forth. Search results include partial matches. Searching on criteria filters the rule table so only matching rules are displayed.

New/modified screens: We added a search field above the rule table when you edit an FTD NAT policy.

Supported platforms: FTD

Copy and move rules between access control and prefilter policies

You can copy access control rules from one access control policy to another. You can also move rules between an access control policy and its associated prefilter policy.

New/modified pages: In the access control and prefilter policy editors, we added Copy and Move options to each rule's right-click menu.

Supported platforms: FMC

Bulk object import

You can now bulk-import network, port, URL, VLAN tag, and distinguished name objects onto the FMC, using a comma-separated-values (CSV) file.

For restrictions and specific formatting instructions, see the Reusable Objects chapter of the Firepower Management Center Configuration Guide.

New/modified screens: Objects > Object Management > choose an object type > Add [Object Type] > Import Object

Supported platforms: FMC

Interface object optimization for access control and prefilter policies

You can now enable interface object optimization on specific FTD devices.

During deployment, interface groups and security zones used in the access control and prefilter policies generate separate rules for each source/destination interface pair. If you enable interface object optimization, the system will instead deploy a single rule per access control/prefilter rule, which can simplify the device configuration and improve deployment performance.

Interface object optimization is disabled by default. If you enable it, you should also enable Object Group Search—which now applies to interface objects in addition to network objects—to reduce memory usage on the device.

New/modified screens: Devices > Device Management > Device > Advanced Settings section > Interface Object Optimization check box

Supported platforms: FTD

Administration and Troubleshooting

FMC single sign-on

The FMC now supports single sign-on (SSO) for external users configured at any third-party SAML 2.0-compliant identity provider (IdP). You can map user or group roles from the IdP to FMC user roles.

New/modified screens:

• Login > Single Sign-On

• System > Users > SSO

Supported platforms: FMC

FMC logout delay

When you log out of the FMC, there is an automatic five-second delay and countdown. You can click Log Out again to log out immediately.

Supported platforms: FMC

Health monitoring enhancements

We enhanced health monitoring as follows:

• Health Status summary page that provides an at-a-glance view of the health of the Firepower Management Center and all of the devices that the FMC manages.

• The Monitoring navigation pane allows you to navigate the device hierarchy.

• Managed devices are listed individually, or grouped according to their geolocation, high availability, or cluster status where applicable.

• You can view health monitors for individual devices from the navigation pane.

• Custom dashboards to correlate interrelated metrics. Select from predefined correlation groups, such as CPU and Snort; or create a custom correlation dashboard by building your own variable set from the available metric groups.

Supported platforms: FMC

Health module updates

We replaced the CPU Usage health module with four new modules:

• CPU Usage (per core): Monitors the CPU usage on all of the cores.

• CPU Usage Data Plane: Monitors the average CPU usage of all data plane processes on the device.

• CPU Usage Snort: Monitors the average CPU usage of the Snort processes on the device.

• CPU Usage System: Monitors the average CPU usage of all system processes on the device.

We added the following health modules to track memory use:

• Memory Usage Data Plane: Monitors the percentage of allocated memory used by data plane processes.

• Memory Usage Snort: Monitors the percentage of allocated memory used by the Snort process.

We added the following health modules to track statistics:

• Connection Statistics: Monitors connection statistics and NAT translation counts.

• Critical Process Statistics: Monitors the state of critical processes, their resource consumption, and the restart counts.

• Deployed Configuration Statistics: Monitors statistics about the deployed configuration, such as the number of ACEs and IPS rules.

• Snort Statistics: Monitors Snort statistics for events, flows, and packets.

Supported platforms: FMC

Search Message Center

You can now filter the current view in the Message Center.

New/modified pages: We added a Filter icon and field to the Message Center, under the Show Notifications slider.

Supported platforms: FMC

Usability and Performance

Dusk theme

Beta.

The FMC web interface defaults to the Light theme, but you can also choose a new Dusk theme.

New/modified screens: User Preferences, from the drop-down list under your username

Supported platforms: FMC

Search FMC menus

You can now search the FMC menus.

New/modified pages: We added a Search icon and field to the FMC menu bar, to the left of the Deploy menu.

Supported platforms: FMC

Firepower Management Center REST API

New REST API services

We added the following FMC REST API services/operations to support new and existing features.

Authorization services:

• ssoconfig: GET and PUT operations to retrieve and modify FMC single-sign on.

Health services:

• metrics: GET operation to retrieve metrics for the health monitor.

• alerts: GET operation to retrieve health alerts.

• deploymentdetails: GET operation to retrieve deployment health details.

Deployment services:

• jobhistories: GET operation to retrieve deployment history.

• rollbackrequests: POST operation to request a configuration rollback.

Device services:

• metrics: GET operation to retrieve device metrics.

• virtualtunnelinterfaces: GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE operations to retrieve and modify virtual tunnel interfaces.

Integration services:

• externalstorage: GET, GET by ID, and PUT operations to retrieve and modify external event storage configuration.

Policy services:

• intrusionpolicies: POST and DELETE operations to modify intrusion policies.

Update services:

• cancelupgrades: POST operation to cancel a failed upgrade.

• retryupgrades: POST operation to retry a failed upgrade.

Supported platforms: FMC

Platform Features

Support ends for the ASA 5525-X, 5545-X, and 5555-X. The last supported release is FTD 6.6.

You cannot install FTD 6.7 on an ASA 5525-X, 5545-X, or 5555-X. The last supported release for these models is FTD 6.6.

Firewall and IPS Features

TLS server identity discovery for access control rule matching.

TLS 1.3 certificates are encrypted. For traffic encrypted with TLS 1.3 to match access rules that use application or URL filtering, the system must decrypt the TLS 1.3 certificate. We recommend that you enable TLS Server Identity Discovery to ensure encrypted connections are matched to the right access control rule. The setting decrypts the certificate only; the connection remains encrypted.

We added the Access Control Settings () button and dialog box to the Policy > Access Control page.

External trusted CA certificate groups.

You can now customize the list of trusted CA certificates used by the SSL decryption policy. By default, the policy uses all system-defined trusted CA certificates, but you can create a custom group to add more certificates, or replace the default group with your own, more limited, group.

We added certificate groups to the Objects > Certificates page, and modified the SSL decryption policy settings to allow the selection of certificate groups.

Active Directory realm sequences for passive identity rules.

You can create a realm sequence, which is an ordered list of Active Directory (AD) servers and their domains, and use them in a passive authentication identity rule. Realm sequences are useful if you support more than one AD domain and you want to do user-based access control. Instead of writing separate rules for each AD domain, you can write a single rule that covers all of your domains. The ordering of the AD realms within the sequence is used to resolve identity conflicts if any arise.

We added the AD realm sequence object on the Objects > Identity Sources page, and the ability to select the object as a realm in a passive authentication identity rule. In the FTD API, we added the RealmSequence resource, and in the IdentityRule resource, we added the ability to select a realm sequence object as the realm for a rule that uses passive authentication as the action.

FDM support for Trustsec security group tag (SGT) group objects and their use in access control rules.

In FTD 6.5, support was added to the FTD API to configure SGT group objects and use them as matching criteria in access control rules. In addition, you could modify the ISE identity object to listen to the SXP topic published by ISE. Now, you can configure these features directly in FDM.

We added a new object, SGT groups, and updated the access control policy to allow their selection and display. We also modified the ISE object to include the explicit selection of topics to subscribe to.

Snort 3.0 support.

For new systems, Snort 3.0 is the default inspection engine. If you upgrade to 6.7 from an older release, Snort 2.0 remains the active inspection engine, but you can switch to Snort 3.0. For this release, Snort 3.0 does not support virtual routers, time-based access control rules, or the decryption of TLS 1.1 or lower connections. Enable Snort 3.0 only if you do not need these features. You can freely switch back and forth between Snort 2.0 and 3.0, so you can revert your change if needed. Traffic will be interrupted whenever you switch versions.

We added the ability to switch Snort versions to the Device > Updates page, in the Intrusion Rules group. In the FTD API, we added the IntrusionPolicy resource action/toggleinspectionengine.

In addition, there is a new audit event, Rules Update Event, that shows which intrusion rules were added, deleted, or changed in a Snort 3 rule package update.

Custom intrusion policies for Snort 3.

You can create custom intrusion policies when you are using Snort 3 as the inspection engine. In comparison, you could use the pre-defined policies only if you use Snort 2. With custom intrusion policies, you can add or remove groups of rules, and change the security level at the group level to efficiently change the default action (disabled, alert or drop) of the rules in the group. Snort 3 intrusion policies give you more control over the behavior of your IPS/IDS system without the need to edit the base Cisco Talos-provided policies.

We changed the Policies > Intrusion page to list intrusion policies. You can create new ones, and view or edit existing policies, including adding/removing groups, assigning security levels, and changing the action for rules. You can also select multiple rules and change their actions. In addition, you can select custom intrusion policies in access control rules.

Multiple syslog servers for intrusion events.

You can configure multiple syslog servers for intrusion policies. Intrusion events are sent to each syslog server.

We added the ability to select multiple syslog server objects to the intrusion policy settings dialog box.

URL reputation matching can include sites with unknown reputations.

When you configure URL category traffic-matching criteria, and select a reputation range, you can include URLs with unknown reputation in the reputation match.

We added the Include Sites with Unknown Reputation check box to the URL reputation criteria in access control and SSL decyption rules.

VPN Features

Virtual Tunnel Interface (VTI) and route-based site-to-site VPN.

You can now create route-based site-to-site VPNs by using a Virtual Tunnel Interface as the local interface for the VPN connection profile. With route-based site-to-site VPN, you manage the protected networks in a given VPN connection by simply changing the routing table, without altering the VPN connection profile at all. You do not need to keep track of remote networks and update the VPN connection profile to account for these changes. This simplifies VPN management for cloud service providers and large enterprises.

We added the Virtual Tunnel Interfaces tab to the Interface listing page, and updated the site-to-site VPN wizard so that you can use a VTI as the local interface.

FTD API support for Hostscan and Dynamic Access Policy (DAP) for remote access VPN connections.

You can upload Hostscan packages and the Dynamic Access Policy (DAP) rule XML file, and configure DAP rules to create the XML file, to control how group policies are assigned to remote users based on attributes related to the status of the connecting endpoint. You can use these features to perform Change of Authorization if you do not have Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE). You can upload Hostscan and configure DAP using the FTD API only; you cannot configure them using FDM. See the AnyConnect documentation for information about Hostscan and DAP usage.

We added or modified the following FTD API object models: dapxml, hostscanpackagefiles, hostscanxmlconfigs, ravpns.

Enabling certificate revocation checking for external CA certificates

You can use the FTD API to enable certificate revocation checking on a particular external CA certificate. Revocation checking is particularly useful for certificates used in remote access VPN. You cannot configure revocation checking on a certificate using FDM, you must use the FTD API.

We added the following attributes to the ExternalCACertificate resource: revocationCheck, crlCacheTime, oscpDisableNonce.

Support removed for less secure Diffie-Hellman groups, and encryption and hash algorithms.

The following features were deprecated in 6.6 and they are now removed. If you are still using them in IKE proposals or IPsec policies, you must replace them after upgrade before you can deploy any configuration changes. We recommend that you change your VPN configuration prior to upgrade to supported DH and encryption algorithms to ensure the VPN works correctly.

• Diffie-Hellman groups: 2, 5, and 24.

• Encryption algorithms for users who satisfy export controls for strong encryption: DES, 3DES, AES-GMAC, AES-GMAC-192, AES-GMAC-256. DES continues to be supported (and is the only option) for users who do not satisfy export controls.

• Hash algorithms: MD5.

Custom port for remote access VPN.

You can configure the port used for remote access VPN (RA VPN) connections. If you need to connect to FDM on the same interface used for RA VPN, you can change the port number for RA VPN connections. FDM uses port 443, which is also the default RA VPN port.

We updated the global settings step of the RA VPN wizard to include port configuration.

SAML Server support for authenticating remote access VPN.

You can configure a SAML 2.0 server as the authentication source for a remote access VPN. Following are the supported SAML servers: Duo.

We added SAML server as an identity source on the Objects > Identity Sources page, and updated remote access VPN connection profiles to allow its use.

FTD API Support for AnyConnect module profiles.

You can use the FTD API to upload module profiles used with AnyConnect, such as AMP Enabler, ISE Posture, or Umbrella. You must create these profiles using the offline profile editors that you can install from the AnyConnect profile editor package.

We added the anyConnectModuleType attribute to the AnyConnectClientProfile model. Although you can initially create AnyConnect Client Profile objects that use module profiles, you will still need to use the API to modify the objects created in FDM to specify the correct module type.

Routing Features

EIGRP support using Smart CLI.

In previous releases, you configured EIGRP in the Advanced Configuration pages using FlexConfig. Now, you configure EIGRP using Smart CLI directly on the Routing page.

If you configured EIGRP using FlexConfig, when you upgrade to release 6.7, you must remove the FlexConfig object from the FlexConfig policy, and then recreate your configuration in the Smart CLI object. You can retain your EIGRP FlexConfig object for reference until you have completed the Smart CLI updates. Your configuration is not automatically converted.

We added the EIGRP Smart CLI object to the Routing pages.

Interface Features

ISA 3000 hardware bypass persistence

You can now enable hardware bypass for ISA 3000 interface pairs with the persistence option: after power is restored, hardware bypass remains enabled until you manually disable it. If you enable hardware bypass without persistence, hardware bypass is automatically disabled after power is restored. There may be a brief traffic interruption when hardware bypass is disabled. The persistence option lets you control when the brief interruption in traffic occurs.

New/Modified screen: Device > Interfaces > Hardware Bypass > Hardware Bypass Configuration

Synchronization between the FTD operational link state and the physical link state for the Firepower 4100/9300

The Firepower 4100/9300 chassis can now synchronize the FTD operational link state with the physical link state for data interfaces. Currently, interfaces will be in an Up state as long as the FXOS admin state is up and the physical link state is up. The FTD application interface admin state is not considered. Without synchronization from FTD, data interfaces can be in an Up state physically before the FTD application has completely come online, for example, or can stay Up for a period of time after you initiate an FTD shutdown. This feature is disabled by default, and can be enabled per logical device in FXOS.

New/Modified Firepower Chassis Manager screens: Logical Devices > Enable Link State

New/Modified FXOS commands: set link-state-sync enabled, show interface expand detail

Supported platforms: Firepower 4100/9300

Firepower 1100 and 2100 SFP interfaces now support disabling auto-negotiation

You can now configure a Firepower 1100 and 2100 SFP interface to disable auto-negotiation. For 10GB interfaces, you can configure the speed down to 1GB without auto-negotiation; you cannot disable auto-negotiation for an interface with the speed set to 10GB.

Supported platforms: Firepower 1100 and 2100

Administrative and Troubleshooting Features

Ability to cancel a failed FTD software upgrade and to revert to the previous release.

If an FTD major software upgrade fails or is otherwise not functioning correctly, you can revert to the state of the device as it was when you installed the upgrade.

We added the ability to revert the upgrade to the System Upgrade panel in FDM. During an upgrade, the FDM login screen shows the upgrade status and gives you the option to cancel or revert in case of upgrade failure. In the FTD API, we added the CancelUpgrade, RevertUpgrade, RetryUpgrade, and UpgradeRevertInfo resources.

In the FTD CLI, we added the following commands: show last-upgrade status , show upgrade status , show upgrade revert-info , upgrade cancel , upgrade revert , upgrade cleanup-revert , upgrade retry .

Custom HTTPS port for FDM/FTD API access on data interfaces.

You can change the HTTPS port used for FDM or FTD API access on data interfaces. By changing the port from the default 443, you can avoid conflict between management access and other features, such as remote access VPN, configured on the same data interface. Note that you cannot change the management access HTTPS port on the management interface.

We added the ability to change the port to the Device > System Settings > Management Access > Data Interfaces page.

Low-touch provisioning for Cisco Defense Orchestrator on Firepower 1000 and 2100 series devices.

If you plan on managing a new Firepower Threat Defense device using Cisco Defense Orchestrator (CDO), you can now add the device without completing the device setup wizard or even logging into FDM.

New Firepower 1000 and 2100 series devices are initially registered in the Cisco cloud, where you can easily claim them in CDO. Once in CDO, you can immediately manage the devices from CDO. This low-touch provisioning minimizes the need to interact directly with the physical device, and is ideal for remote offices or other locations where your employees are less experienced working with networking devices.

We changed how Firepower 1000 and 2100 series devices are initially provisioned. We also added auto-enrollment to the System Settings > Cloud Services page, so that you can manually start the process for upgraded devices or other devices that you have previously managed using FDM.

FTD API support for SNMP configuration.

You can use the FTD API to configure SNMP version 2c or 3 on an FDM or CDO managed FTD device.

We added the following API resources: SNMPAuthentication, SNMPHost, SNMPSecurityConfiguration, SNMPServer, SNMPUser, SNMPUserGroup, SNMPv2cSecurityConfiguration, SNMPv3SecurityConfiguration.

Maximum backup files retained on the system is reduced from 10 to 3.

The system will retain a maximum of 3 backup files on the system rather than 10. As new backups are created, the oldest backup file is deleted. Please ensure that you download backup files to a different system so that you have the versions required to recover the system in case you need to.

FTD API Version backward compatibility.

Starting with FTD Version 6.7, if an API resource model for a feature does not change between releases, then the FTD API can accept calls that are based on the older API version. Even if the feature model did change, if there is a logical way to convert the old model to the new model, the older call can work. For example, a v4 call can be accepted on a v5 system. If you use “latest” as the version number in your calls, these “older” calls are interpreted as a v5 call in this scenario, so whether you are taking advantage of backward compatibility depends on how you are structuring your API calls.

FTD REST API version 6 (v6).

The FTD REST API for software version 6.7 is version 6. You can use v6 in the API URLs, or preferentially, use /latest/ to signify you are using the most recent API version that is supported on the device.

Please re-evaluate all existing calls, as changes might have been mode to the resource models you are using. To open the API Explorer, where you can view the resources, log into FDM, then click the more options button () and choose API Explorer.

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