Managing Rogue Devices

Rogue Detection

Rogue Devices

Rogue access points can disrupt wireless LAN operations by hijacking legitimate clients and using plain-text or other denial-of-service or man-in-the-middle attacks. That is, a hacker can use a rogue access point to capture sensitive information, such as usernames and passwords. The hacker can then transmit a series of Clear to Send (CTS) frames. This action mimics an access point, informing a particular client to transmit, and instructing all the other clients to wait, which results in legitimate clients being unable to access network resources. Wireless LAN service providers have a strong interest in banning rogue access points from the air space.

Because rogue access points are inexpensive and readily available, employees sometimes plug unauthorized rogue access points into existing LANs and build ad hoc wireless networks without their IT department's knowledge or consent. These rogue access points can be a serious breach of network security because they can be plugged into a network port behind the corporate firewall. Because employees generally do not enable any security settings on the rogue access point, it is easy for unauthorized users to use the access point to intercept network traffic and hijack client sessions. There is an increased chance of enterprise security breach when wireless users connect to access points in the enterprise network.

The following are some guidelines to manage rogue devices:

  • The access points are designed to serve associated clients. These access points spend relatively less time performing off-channel scanning: about 50 milliseconds on each channel. If you want to detect a large number of rogue APs and clients with high sensitivity, a monitor mode access point must be used. Alternatively, you can reduce the scan intervals from 180 seconds to a lesser value, for example, 120 or 60 seconds, ensuring that the radio goes off-channel more frequently, which improves the chances of rogue detection. However, the access point continues to spend about 50 milliseconds on each channel.

  • Rogue detection is disabled by default for OfficeExtend access points because these access points, which are deployed in a home environment, are likely to detect many rogue devices.

  • Client card implementation might mitigate the effectiveness of containment. This normally happens when a client might quickly reconnect to the network after receiving a "de-association/de-authentication" frame, so it might still be able to pass some traffic. However, the browsing experience of the rogue client would be badly affected when it is contained.

  • It is possible to classify and report rogue access points by using rogue states and user-defined classification rules that enable rogues to automatically move between states.

  • Each controller limits the number of rogue containments to three and six per radio for access points in the monitor mode.

  • When manual containment is performed using configuration, the rogue entry is retained even after the rogue entry expires.

  • When a rogue entry expires, the managed access points are instructed to stop any active containment on it.

  • To validate a Rogue Client against AAA, add the rogue client MAC to the AAA user-database with relevant delimiter, username, and password being the MAC address with relevant delimiter. The Access-Accept contains the Cisco-AV-pair with one of the following keywords:

    rogue-ap-state =state


    Note


    Here, state can be of three types, namely: alert, threat, and contain.

    For instance, rogue-ap-state =threat .

    If Access-Accept has no AV-Pair rogue-ap-class or an invalid value of rogue-ap-class, such a rogue client state is set to either of the following:

    • Contained, if the config is set to autocontain clients or untrusted AP.

    • Threat

    The Radius Access-Reject for rogue client AAA validation is ignored.


  • When Validate Rogue Clients Against AAA is enabled, the controller requests the AAA server for rogue client validation only once. As a result, if rogue client validation fails on the first attempt then the rogue client will not be detected as a threat any more. To avoid this, add the valid client entries in the authentication server before enabling Validate Rogue Clients Against AAA.

Restrictions on Rogue Detection

  • Rogue containment is not supported on DFS channels.

A rogue access point is moved to a contained state either automatically or manually. The controller selects the best available access point for containment and pushes the information to the access point. The access point stores the list of containments per radio. For auto containment, you can configure the controller to use only the monitor mode access point. The containment operation occurs in the following two ways:

  • The container access point goes through the list of containments periodically and sends unicast containment frames. For rogue access point containment, the frames are sent only if a rogue client is associated.

  • Whenever a contained rogue activity is detected, containment frames are transmitted.

Individual rogue containment involves sending a sequence of unicast disassociation and deauthentication frames.

Cisco Prime Infrastructure Interaction and Rogue Detection

Cisco Prime Infrastructure supports rule-based classification and uses the classification rules configured on the controller. The controller sends traps to Cisco Prime Infrastructure after the following events:

  • If an unknown access point moves to the Friendly state for the first time, the controller sends a trap to Cisco Prime Infrastructure only if the rogue state is Alert. It does not send a trap if the rogue state is Internal or External.

  • If a rogue entry is removed after the timeout expires, the controller sends a trap to Cisco Prime Infrastructure for rogue access points that are categorized as Malicious (Alert, Threat) or Unclassified (Alert). The controller does not remove rogue entries with the following rogue states: Contained, Contained Pending, Internal, and External.

Information About Rogue Containment (Protected Management Frames (PMF) Enabled)

From Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam, 17.3.1 onwards, rogue devices that are enabled with 802.11w Protected Management Frames (PMF) are not contained. Instead, the rogue device is marked as Contained Pending, and a WSA alarm is raised to inform about the Contained Pending event. Because the device containment is not performed, access point (AP) resources are not consumed unnecessarily.


Note


This feature is supported only on the Wave 2 APs.


Run the show wireless wps rogue ap detailed command to verify the device containment, when PMF is enabled on a rogue device.

AP Impersonation Detection

The various methods to detect AP impersonation are:

  • AP impersonation can be detected if a managed AP reports itself as Rogue. This method is always enabled and no configuration is required.

  • AP impersonation detection is based on MFP.

  • AP impersonation detection based on AP authentication.

Infrastructure MFP protects 802.11 session management functions by adding message integrity check (MIC) information elements, to the management frames sent by APs (and not those sent by clients), which are then validated by other APs in the network. If infrastructure MFP is enabled, the managed APs check if the MIC information elements are present and if MIC information elements are as expected. If either of these conditions is not fulfilled, the managed AP sends rogue AP reports with updated AP authentication failure counter.

The AP Authentication functionality allows you to detect AP impersonation. When you enable this functionality, the controller creates an AP domain secret and shares it with other APs in the same network. This allows the APs to authenticate each other.

An AP Authentication information element is attached to beacon and probe response frames. If the AP Authentication information element has an incorrect Signature field, or the timestamp is off, or if the AP Authentication information element is missing, then the AP that has detected such a condition increments the AP authentication failure count field. An impersonation alarm is raised after the AP authentication failure count field breaches its threshold. The rogue AP is classified as Malicious with state Threat.

Run the show wireless wps rogue ap detail command to see when the impersonation is detected due to authentication errors.


Note


Ensure that the ccx aironet-iesupport command is run in all the WLAN procedures, else the BSSID will be detected as a rogue.

For AP impersonation detection, Network Time Protocol (NTP) must be enabled instead of CAPWAP based time, under the AP profile.


Configuring Rogue Detection (GUI)

Procedure


Step 1

Choose Configuration > Tags & Profiles > AP Join.

Step 2

Click the AP Join Profile Name to edit the AP join profile properties.

Step 3

In the Edit AP Join Profile window, click the Rogue AP tab.

Step 4

Check the Rogue Detection check box to enable rogue detection.

Step 5

In the Rogue Detection Minimum RSSI field, enter the RSSI value.

Step 6

In the Rogue Detection Transient Interval field, enter the interval in seconds.

Step 7

In the Rogue Detection Report Interval field, enter the report interval value in seconds.

Step 8

In the Rogue Detection Client Number Threshold field, enter the threshold for rogue client detection.

Step 9

Check the Auto Containment on FlexConnect Standalone check box to enable auto containment.

Step 10

Click Update & Apply to Device.


Configuring Rogue Detection (CLI)

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

ap profile profile-name rogue detection min-rssi rssi in dBm

Example:

Device(config)# ap profile profile1
Device(config)# rogue detection   min-rssi -100

Specify the minimum RSSI value that rogues should have for APs to detect and for rogue entry to be created in the device.

Valid range for the rssi in dBm parameter is –128 dBm to -70 dBm, and the default value is -128 dBm.

Note

 

This feature is applicable to all the AP modes. There can be many rogues with very weak RSSI values that do not provide any valuable information in rogue analysis. Therefore, you can use this option to filter rogues by specifying the minimum RSSI value at which APs should detect rogues.

Step 3

ap profile profile-name rogue detection containment { auto-rate | flex-rate}

Example:

Device(config)# ap profile profile1
Device(config)# rogue detection   containment flex-rate

Specifies the rogue containment options. The auto-rate option enables auto-rate for containment of rogues. The flex-rate option enables rogue containment of standalone FlexConnect APs.

Step 4

ap profile profile-name rogue detection enable

Example:

Device(config)# ap profile profile1
Device(config)# rogue detection enable

Enables rogue detection on all APs.

Step 5

ap profile profile-name rogue detection report-interval time in seconds

Example:

Device(config)# ap profile profile1
Device(config)# rogue detection report-interval 120

Configures rogue report interval for monitor mode Cisco APs.

The valid range for reporting the interval in seconds is 10 seconds to 300 seconds.

In case the controller detects several thousands of rogue APs, it is possible to see the PUBD process causing sustained high CPU. This can be fixed by increasing the Rogue Detection Report Interval from the default 10 to something greater.

Configuring RSSI Deviation Notification Threshold for Rogue APs (CLI)

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

wireless wps rogue ap notify-rssi-deviation

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap notify-rssi-deviation

Configures RSSI deviation notification threshold for Rogue APs.

Step 3

end

Example:

Device(config)# end

Returns to privileged EXEC mode. Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode.

Configuring Management Frame Protection (GUI)

Procedure


Step 1

Choose Configuration > Security > Wireless Protection Policies.

Step 2

In the Rogue Policy tab, under the MFP Configuration section, check the Global MFP State check box and the AP Impersonation Detection check box to enable the global MFP state and the AP impersonation detection, respectively.

Step 3

In the MFP Key Refresh Interval field, specify the refresh interval in hours.

Step 4

Click Apply.


Configuring Management Frame Protection (CLI)

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

wireless wps mfp

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps mfp

Configures a management frame protection.

Step 3

wireless wps mfp {ap-impersonation | key-refresh-interval}

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps mfp ap-impersonation
Device(config)# wireless wps mfp key-refresh-interval

Configures ap impersonation detection (or) MFP key refresh interval in hours.

key-refresh-interval—Refers to the MFP key refresh interval in hours. The valid range is from 1 to 24. Default value is 24.

Step 4

end

Example:

Device(config)# end

Saves the configuration and exits configuration mode and returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Enabling Access Point Authentication

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

wireless wps ap-authentication

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps ap-authentication 

Configures the wireless WPS AP authentication.

Step 3

wireless wps ap-authentication threshold threshold

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps ap-authentication threshold 100

Configures AP neighbor authentication and sets the threshold for AP authentication failures.

Step 4

wlan wlan-name wlan-id SSID-name

Example:

Device(config)# wlan wlan-demo 1 ssid-demo

Configures a WLAN.

Step 5

ccx aironet-iesupport

Example:

Device(config-wlan)# ccx aironet-iesupport 

Enables support for Aironet Information Elements on this WLAN.

Step 6

end

Example:

Device# end

Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Verifying Management Frame Protection

To verify if the Management Frame Protection (MFP) feature is enabled or not, use the following command:

Device# show wireless wps summary
Client Exclusion Policy
  Excessive 802.11-association failures   : unknown
  Excessive 802.11-authentication failures: unknown
  Excessive 802.1x-authentication         : unknown
  IP-theft                                : unknown
  Excessive Web authentication failure    : unknown
  Failed Qos Policy                       : unknown

Management Frame Protection
  Global Infrastructure MFP state : Enabled
  AP Impersonation detection      : Disabled
  Key refresh interval            : 15
 

To view the MFP details, use the following command:

Device# show wireless wps mfp summary
Management Frame Protection
  Global Infrastructure MFP state : Enabled
  AP Impersonation detection      : Disabled
  Key refresh interval            : 15

Verifying Rogue Events

To verify the rogue event history, run the show wireless wps rogue ap detailed command:

Device# show wireless wps rogue ap detailed d8b1.901c.3cfd

Rogue Event history

Timestamp                  #Times Class/State Event               Ctx                      RC
-------------------------- ------ ----------- ------------------- ------------------------ ---
05/01/2020 08:37:03.55645  41616  Mal/CPend   FSM_GOTO            ContPending(NotContYet)  0x0
05/01/2020 08:37:03.55427  28163  Mal/CPend   EXPIRE_TIMER_START  1200s                    0x0
05/01/2020 08:37:03.55380  28163  Mal/CPend   RECV_REPORT         38ed.18cf.83e0/1         0x0
05/01/2020 08:36:54.659136 7356   Mal/CPend   NO_OP_UPDATE                                 0x0
05/01/2020 08:36:33.347132 3185   Mal/CPend   CHANNEL_CHANGE      e4aa.5d44.fec0/2,36->40  0x0
05/01/2020 08:25:19.573720 247    Mal/CPend   LRAD_EXPIRE         7c21.0e41.0700/0         0x0
04/30/2020 07:55:37.977450 2      Mal/CPend   PMF_CONTAINMENT  ContPending(PMFDetected) 0x0
04/30/2020 07:55:37.977242 1      Unc/Alert   INIT_TIMER_DONE     0xab9800439e00024f       0x0
04/30/2020 07:52:33.600332 1      Unk/Init    INIT_TIMER_START    180s                     0x0
04/30/2020 07:52:33.600326 1      Unk/Init    CREATE                                       0x0

   

To verify the impersonations detected due to authentication errors, use the following command:

Device# show wireless wps rogue ap detailed

Rogue BSSID                            : 0062.ecf3.8d30
Last heard Rogue SSID                  : rogueA
802.11w PMF required                   : No
Is Rogue an impersonator               : Yes 
Is Rogue on Wired Network              : No
Classification                         : Malicious
Manually Contained                     : No
State                                  : Threat 
First Time Rogue was Reported          : 01/07/2020 15:51:01
Last Time Rogue was Reported           : 01/08/2020 08:08:35
 
Number of clients                      : 0
 
Reported By
  AP Name : AP38ED.18CE.45E0
    MAC Address                        : 38ed.18cf.83e0
    Detecting slot ID                  : 0
    Radio Type                         : dot11g, dot11n - 2.4 GHz
    SSID                               : rogueA
    Channel                            : 6 (From DS)
    Channel Width                      : 20 MHz
    RSSI                               : -33 dBm
    SNR                                : 52 dB
    ShortPreamble                      : Disabled
    Security Policy                    : WPA2/WPA/FT
    Last reported by this AP           : 01/08/2020 08:02:53
    Authentication Failure Count       : 237

Verifying Rogue Detection

This section describes the new command for rogue detection.

The following command can be used to verify rogue detection on the device.

Table 1. Verifying Adhoc Rogues Information

Command

Purpose

show wireless wps rogue adhoc detailed mac_address

Displays the detailed information for an Adhoc rogue.

show wireless wps rogue adhoc summary

Displays a list of all Adhoc rogues.

Table 2. Verifying Rogue AP Information

Command

Purpose

show wireless wps rogue ap clients mac_address

Displays the list of all rogue clients associated with a rogue.

show wireless wps rogue ap custom summary

Displays the custom rogue AP information.

show wireless wps rogue ap detailed mac_address

Displays the detailed information for a rogue AP.

show wireless wps rogue ap friendly summary

Displays the friendly rogue AP information.

show wireless wps rogue ap list mac_address

Displays the list of rogue APs detected by a given AP.

show wireless wps rogue ap malicious summary

Displays the malicious rogue AP information.

show wireless wps rogue ap summary

Displays a list of all Rogue APs.

show wireless wps rogue ap unclassified summary

Displays the unclassified rogue AP information.

Table 3. Verifying Rogue Auto-Containment Information

Command

Purpose

show wireless wps rogue auto-contain

Displays the rogue auto-containment information.

Table 4. Verifying Classification Rule Information

Command

Purpose

show wireless wps rogue rule detailed rule_name

Displays the detailed information for a classification rule.

show wireless wps rogue rule summary

Displays the list of all rogue rules.

Table 5. Verifying Rogue Statistics

Command

Purpose

show wireless wps rogue stats

Displays the rogue statistics.

Table 6. Verifying Rogue Client Information

Command

Purpose

show wireless wps rogue client detailed mac_address

Displays detailed information for a Rogue client.

show wireless wps rogue client summary

Displays a list of all the Rogue clients.

Table 7. Verifying Rogue Ignore List

Command

Purpose

show wireless wps rogue ignore-list

Displays the rogue ignore list.

Examples: Rogue Detection Configuration

This example shows how to configure the minimum RSSI that a detected rogue AP needs to be at, to have an entry created in the device:

Device# configure terminal
Device(config)# ap profile profile1
Device(config)# rogue detection min-rssi -100
Device(config)# end
Device# show wireless wps rogue client summary/show wireless wps rogue ap summary
This example shows how to configure the classification interval:

Device# configure terminal
Device(config)# ap profile profile1
Device(config)# rogue detection min-transient-time 500
Device(config)# end
Device# show wireless wps rogue client summary/show wireless wps rogue ap summary

Configuring Rogue Policies (GUI)

Procedure


Step 1

Choose Configuration > Security > Wireless Protection Policies.

Step 2

In the Rogue Policies tab, use the Rogue Detection Security Level drop-down to select the security level.

Step 3

In the Expiration timeout for Rogue APs (seconds) field, enter the timeout value.

Step 4

Select the Validate Rogue Clients against AAA check box to validate rogue clients against AAA server.

Step 5

Select the Validate Rogue APs against AAA check box to validate rogue access points against AAA server.

Step 6

In the Rogue Polling Interval (seconds) field, enter the interval to poll the AAA server for rogue information.

Step 7

Select the Detect and Report Adhoc Networks check box to enable detection of rogue adhoc networks.

Step 8

In the Rogue Detection Client Number Threshold field, enter the threshold to generate SNMP trap.

Step 9

In the Auto Contain section, enter the following details.

Step 10

Use the Auto Containment Level drop-down to select the level.

Step 11

Select the Auto Containment only for Monitor Mode APs check box to limit the auto-containment only to monitor mode APs.

Step 12

Select the Rogue on Wire check box to limit the auto-containment only to rogue APs on wire.

Step 13

Select the Using our SSID check box to limit the auto-containment only to rogue APs using one of the SSID configured on the controller.

Step 14

Select the Adhoc Rogue AP check box to limit the auto-containment only to adhoc rogue APs.

Step 15

Click Apply.


Configuring Rogue Policies (CLI)

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue security-level custom

Configures the rogue detection security level.

You can select critical for highly sensitive deployments, custom for customizable security level, high for medium-scale deployments, and low for small-scale deployments.

Step 3

wireless wps rogue ap timeout number of seconds

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap timeout 250

Configures the expiration time for rogue entries, in seconds. Valid range for the time in seconds 240 seconds to 3600 seconds.

Step 4

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue client aaa

Configures the use of AAA or local database to detect valid MAC addresses.

Step 5

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue client mse

Configures the use of MSE to detect valid MAC addresses.

Step 6

wireless wps rogue client notify-min-rssi RSSI threshold

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue client notify-min-rssi -128

Configures the minimum RSSI notification threshold for rogue clients. Valid range for the RSSI threshold in dB is -128 - dB to -70 dB.

Step 7

wireless wps rogue client notify-min-deviation RSSI threshold

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue client notify-min-deviation 4

Configures the RSSI deviation notification threshold for rogue clients. Valid range for the RSSI threshold in dB is 0 dB to 10 dB.

Step 8

wireless wps rogue ap aaa polling-interval AP AAA Interval

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap aaa polling-interval 120

Configures rogue AP AAA validation interval. The valid range for the AP AAA interval in seconds is 60 seconds to 86400 seconds.

Step 9

wireless wps rogue adhoc

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue adhoc

Enables detecting and reporting adhoc rogue (IBSS).

Step 10

wireless wps rogue client client-threshold threshold

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue client client-threshold 100

Configures the rogue client per a rogue AP SNMP trap threshold. The valid range for the threshold is 0 to 256.

Step 11

wireless wps rogue ap init-timer

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap init-timer 180

Configures the init timer for rogue APs. The default timer value is set to 180 seconds.

Note

 

When a rogue AP is detected, an init timer is started and the rules are applied when this timer expires. This allows for rogue AP information to stabilize before applying any rules. However, you can change the value of this timer using this command. For instance, the init timer can be set to 0, if the rules need to be applied as soon as a new rogue AP is detected.

Rogue Location Discovery Protocol (RLDP)

Rogue Location Discovery Protocol

Rogue Location Discovery Protocol (RLDP) is an active approach, which is used when rogue AP has no authentication (Open Authentication) configured. This mode, which is disabled by default, instructs an active AP to move to the rogue channel and connect to the rogue as a client. During this time, the active AP sends de-authentication messages to all connected clients and then shuts down the radio interface. Then, it associates to the rogue AP as a client. The AP then tries to obtain an IP address from the rogue AP and forwards a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet (port 6352) that contains the local AP and rogue connection information to the controller through the rogue AP. If the controller receives this packet, the alarm is set to notify the network administrator that a rogue AP was discovered on the wired network with the RLDP feature. RLDP has 100 % accuracy in rouge AP detection. It detects Open APs and NAT APs.

Following are some guidelines to manage RLDP:

  • Rogue Location Discovery Protocol (RLDP) detects rogue access points that are configured for open authentication.

  • RLDP detects rogue access points that use a broadcast Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), that is, the access point broadcasts its Service Set Identifier in beacons.

  • RLDP detects only those rogue access points that are on the same network. If an access list in the network prevents the sending of RLDP traffic from the rogue access point to the controller , RLDP does not work.

  • RLDP does not work on 5-GHz Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) channels.

  • If RLDP is enabled on mesh APs, and the APs perform RLDP tasks, the mesh APs are dissociated from the controller . The workaround is to disable RLDP on mesh APs.

  • If RLDP is enabled on non-monitor APs, client connectivity outages occur when RLDP is in process.

The following steps describe the functioning of RLDP:

  1. Identify the closest Unified AP to the rogue using signal strength values.

  2. The AP then connects to the rogue as a WLAN client, attempting three associations before timing out.

  3. If association is successful, the AP then uses DHCP to obtain an IP address.

  4. If an IP address was obtained, the AP (acting as a WLAN client) sends a UDP packet to each of the controller 's IP addresses.

  5. If the controller receives even one of the RLDP packets from the client, that rogue is marked as on-wire.


Note


The RLDP packets are unable to reach the controller if filtering rules are placed between the controller 's network and the network where the rogue device is located.


The controller continuously monitors all the nearby access points and automatically discovers and collects information on rogue access points and clients. When the controller discovers a rogue access point, it uses the Rogue Location Discovery Protocol (RLDP), if RLDP is enabled, to determine if the rogue is attached to your network.

Controller initiates RLDP on rogue devices that have open authentication. If RLDP uses FlexConnect or local mode access points, then clients are disconnected for that moment. After the RLDP cycle, the clients are reconnected to the access points. As and when rogue access points are seen (auto-configured), the RLDP process is initiated.

You can configure the controller to use RLDP on all the access points or only on the access points configured for the monitor (listen-only) mode. The latter option facilitates automated rogue access point detection in a crowded radio frequency (RF) space, allowing monitoring without creating unnecessary interference and without affecting the regular data access point functionality. If you configure the controller to use RLDP on all the access points, the controller always chooses the monitor access point for RLDP operation if a monitor access point and a local (data) access point are both nearby. If RLDP determines that the rogue is on your network, you can choose to contain the detected rogue either manually or automatically.

RLDP detects on wire presence of the rogue access points that are configured with open authentication only once, which is the default retry configuration. Retries can be configured using the wireless wps rogue ap rldp retries configuration CLI.

You can initiate or trigger RLDP from controller in three ways:

  1. Enter the RLDP initiation command manually from the controller CLI.

    wireless wps rogue ap mac-address mac-address rldp initiate

  2. Schedule RLDP from the controller configuration CLI.

    wireless wps rogue ap rldp schedule

  3. Auto RLDP. You can configure auto RLDP on controller either from controller CLI or GUI but keep in mind the following guidelines:

    • The auto RLDP option can be configured only when the rogue detection security level is set to custom.

    • Either auto RLDP or schedule of RLDP can be enabled at a time.

Restrictions for RLDP

  • RLDP only works with open rogue APs broadcasting their SSID with authentication and encryption disabled.

  • RLDP requires that the Managed AP acting as a client is able to obtain an IP address via DHCP on the rogue network.

  • Manual RLDP can be used to attempt an RLDP trace on a rogue multiple number of times.

  • During RLDP process, the AP is unable to serve clients. This negatively impacts performance and connectivity for local mode APs. To avoid this case, RLDP can be selectively enabled for Monitor Mode AP only.

  • RLDP does not attempt to connect to a rogue AP operating in a 5GHz DFS channel.

  • RLDP is supported only on Cisco IOS APs.

Configuring RLDP for Generating Alarms (GUI)

Procedure


Step 1

Choose Configuration > Security > Wireless Protection Policies.

Step 2

In the RLDP tab, use the Rogue Location Discovery Protocol drop-down to select one of the following options:

  1. Disable: Disables RLDP on all the access points. Disable is the default option.

  2. All APs: Enables RLDP on all APs.

  3. Monitor Mode APs: Enables RLDP only on APs in the monitor mode.

Note

 
The Schedule RLDP check box is enabled only if the Disable option is selected. The Schedule RLDP check box remains disabled when you select the All APs option or the Monitor Mode APs option.

Step 3

In the Retry Count field, specify the number of retries that should be attempted. The range allowed is between 1 and 5.

Step 4

Click Apply.


Configuring an RLDP for Generating Alarms (CLI)

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

wireless wps rogue ap rldp alarm-only <monitor-ap-only>

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap rldp alarm-only
Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap rldp alarm-only monitor-ap-only

Enables RLDP to generate alarms. In this method, the RLDP is always enabled.

The monitor-ap-only keyword is optional.

The command with just the alarm-only keyword enables RLDP without any restriction on the AP mode.

The command with alarm-only <monitor-ap-only> keyword enables RLDP in monitor mode access points only.

Step 3

end

Example:

Device(config)# end

Returns to privileged EXEC mode. Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode.

Configuring a Schedule for RLDP (GUI)

Procedure


Step 1

Choose Configuration > Security > Wireless Protection Policies.

Step 2

In the RLDP tab, choose the following options from the Rogue Location Discovery Protocol drop-down list:

  • Disable (default): Disables RLDP on all the access points.

Step 3

In the Retry Count field, specify the number of retries that should be attempted. Provide a valid range between 1 to 5.

Step 4

Check the Schedule RLDP check box and then specify the days, start time, and end time for the process to take place.

Step 5

Click Apply.


Configuring a Schedule for RLDP (CLI)

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

wireless wps rogue ap rldp schedule day day start start-time end end-time

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap rldp schedule day Monday start 10:10:01 end 12:00:00

Enables RLDP based on a scheduled day, start time, and end time.

Here,

day is the day when the RLDP scheduling can be done. The values are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

start-time is the start time for scheduling RLDP for the day. You need to enter start time in HH:MM:SS format.

end-time is the end time for scheduling RLDP for the day. You need to enter end time in HH:MM:SS format.

Step 3

wireless wps rogue ap rldp schedule

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap rldp schedule

Enables the schedule.

Step 4

end

Example:

Device(config)# end

Returns to privileged EXEC mode. Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode.

Configuring an RLDP for Auto-Contain (GUI)

Procedure


Step 1

Choose Configuration > Security > Wireless Protection Policies.

Step 2

In the Rogue Policies tab, under the Auto Contain section, check the Rogue on Wire checkbox.

Step 3

Click Apply.


Configuring an RLDP for Auto-Contain (CLI)

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

wireless wps rogue ap rldp auto-contain [monitor-ap-only]

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap rldp auto-contain
Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap rldp auto-contain monitor-ap-only

Enables RLDP to perform auto-contain. In this method, the RLDP is always enabled.

The monitor-ap-only keyword is optional.

The command with just the auto-contain keyword enables RLDP without any restriction on the AP mode.

The command with auto-contain <monitor-ap-only> keyword enables RLDP in monitor mode access points only.

Step 3

end

Example:

Device(config)# end

Returns to privileged EXEC mode. Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode.

Configuring RLDP Retry Times on Rogue Access Points (GUI)

Procedure


Step 1

Choose Configuration > Security > Wireless Protection Policies.

Step 2

On the Wireless Protection Policies page, click the RLDP tab.

Step 3

Enter the RLDP retry attempt value for rogue access points in the Retry Count field.

The valid range is between 1 and 5.

Step 4

Save the configuration.


Configuring RLDP Retry Times on Rogue Access Points (CLI)

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

wireless wps rogue ap rldp retries num-entries

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue ap rldp retries 2

Enables RLDP retry times on rogue access points.

Here, num-entries is the number of RLDP retry times for each of the rogue access points.

The valid range is 1 to 5.

Step 3

end

Example:

Device(config)# end

Returns to privileged EXEC mode. Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl-Z to exit global configuration mode.

Verifying Rogue AP RLDP

The following commands can be used to verify rogue AP RLDP:

Table 8. Verifying Rogue AP Information

Command

Purpose

show wireless wps rogue ap rldp detailed mac_address

Displays the RLDP details for a rogue AP.

show wireless wps rogue ap rldp in progress

Displays the list of in-progress RLDP.

show wireless wps rogue ap rldp summary

Displays the summary of RLDP scheduling information.

Rogue Detection Security Level

The rogue detection security level configuration allows you to set rogue detection parameters.

The available security levels are:

  • Critical: Basic rogue detection for highly sensitive deployments.

  • High: Basic rogue detection for medium-scale deployments.

  • Low: Basic rogue detection for small-scale deployments.

  • Custom: Default security-level, where all detection parameters are configurable.


Note


When in Critical, High or Low, some rogue parameters are fixed and cannot be configured.


The following table shows parameter details for the three predefined levels:

Table 9. Rogue Detection: Predefined Levels

Parameter

Critical

High

Low

Cleanup Timer

3600

1200

240

AAA Validate Clients

Disabled

Disabled

Disabled

Adhoc Reporting

Enabled

Enabled

Enabled

Monitor-Mode Report Interval

10 seconds

30 seconds

60 seconds

Minimum RSSI

-128 dBm

-80 dBm

-80 dBm

Transient Interval

600 seconds

300 seconds

120 seconds

Auto Contain

Works only on Monitor Mode APs.

Disabled

Disabled

Disabled

Auto Contain Level

1

1

1

Auto Contain Same-SSID

Disabled

Disabled

Disabled

Auto Contain Valid Clients on Rogue AP

Disabled

Disabled

Disabled

Auto Contain Adhoc

Disabled

Disabled

Disabled

Containment Auto-Rate

Enabled

Enabled

Enabled

Validate Clients with CMX

Enabled

Enabled

Enabled

Containment FlexConnect

Enabled

Enabled

Enabled

RLDP

Monitor-AP if RLDP scheduling is disabled.

Monitor-AP if RLDP scheduling is disabled

Disabled

Auto Contain RLDP

Disabled

Disabled

Disabled

Setting Rogue Detection Security-level

Follow the procedure given below to set the rogue detection security-level:

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters the global configuration mode.

Step 2

wireless wps rogue security-level custom

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue security-level custom 

Configures rogue detection security level as custom.

Step 3

wireless wps rogue security-level low

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue security-level low 

Configures rogue detection security level for basic rogue detection setup for small-scale deployments.

Step 4

wireless wps rogue security-level high

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue security-level high 

Configures rogue detection security level for rogue detection setup for medium-scale deployments.

Step 5

wireless wps rogue security-level critical

Example:

Device(config)# wireless wps rogue security-level critical 

Configures rogue detection security level for rogue detection setup for highly sensitive deployments.

Wireless Service Assurance Rogue Events

Wireless Service Assurance (WSA) rogue events, supported in Release 16.12.x and later releases, consist of telemetry notifications for a subset of SNMP traps. WSA rogue events replicate the same information that is part of the corresponding SNMP trap.

For all the exported events, the following details are provided to the wireless service assurance (WSA) infrastructure:

  • MAC address of the rogue AP

  • Details of the managed AP and the radio that detected the rogue AP with strongest RSSI

  • Event-specific data such as SSID, channel for potential honeypot event, and MAC address of the impersonating AP for impersonation event

The WSA rogue events feature can scale up to four times the maximum number of supported APs and half of the maximum number of supported clients.

The WSA rogue events feature is supported on Cisco Catalyst Center and other third-party infrastructure.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

network-assurance enable

Example:

Device# network-assurance enable

Enables wireless service assurance.

Step 3

wireless wps rogue network-assurance enable

Example:

Device# wireless wps rogue network-assurance enable

Enables wireless service assurance for rogue devices. This ensures that the WSA rogue events are sent to the event queue.

Monitoring Wireless Service Assurance Rogue Events

Procedure

  • show wireless wps rogue stats

    Example:

    Device# show wireless wps rogue stats
    
    WSA Events
      Total WSA Events Triggered            : 9
        ROGUE_POTENTIAL_HONEYPOT_DETECTED   : 2
        ROGUE_POTENTIAL_HONEYPOT_CLEARED    : 3
        ROGUE_AP_IMPERSONATION_DETECTED     : 4
      Total WSA Events Enqueued             : 6
        ROGUE_POTENTIAL_HONEYPOT_DETECTED   : 1
        ROGUE_POTENTIAL_HONEYPOT_CLEARED    : 2
        ROGUE_AP_IMPERSONATION_DETECTED     : 3
    

    In this example, nine events have been triggered, but only six of them have been enqueued. This is because three events were triggered before the WSA rogue feature was enabled.

  • show wireless wps rogue stats internal

    show wireless wps rogue ap detailed rogue-ap-mac-addr

    These commands show information related to WSA events into the event history.