Contents

Introduction

Prerequisites

Requirements

Components Used

Conventions

Background Information

What Traffic Do You Want to Let Out?

What Traffic Do You Want to Let In?

Extended IP Access List 101

Extended IP Access List 102

Extended IP Access List 102

What Traffic Do You Want to Inspect?

Related Information

Introduction

The Context-Based Access Control (CBAC) feature of the Cisco IOS® Firewall Feature Set actively inspects the activity behind a firewall. CBAC specifies what traffic needs to be let in and what traffic needs to be let out by using access lists (in the same way that Cisco IOS uses access lists). However, CBAC access lists include ip inspect statements that allow the inspection of the protocol to make sure that it is not tampered with before the protocol goes to the systems behind the firewall.

Prerequisites

Requirements

There are no specific requirements for this document.

Components Used

This document is not restricted to specific software and hardware versions.

Conventions

For more information on document conventions, refer to the Cisco Technical Tips Conventions.

Background Information

CBAC can also be used with Network Address Translation (NAT), but the configuration in this document deals primarily with pure inspection. If you perform NAT, your access lists need to reflect the global addresses, not the real addresses.

Prior to configuration, consider these questions.

- What traffic do you want to let out?

- What traffic do you want to let in?

- What traffic do you want to inspect?

What Traffic Do You Want to Let Out?

What traffic you want to let out depends on your site security policy, but in this general example everything is permitted outbound. If your access list denies everything, then no traffic can leave. Specify outbound traffic with this extended access list:

access-list 101 permit ip [source-network] [source-mask] any

access-list 101 deny ip any any

What Traffic Do You Want to Let In?

What traffic you want to let in depends on your site security policy. However, the logical answer is anything that does not damage your network.

In this example, there is a list of traffic that seems logical to let in. Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traffic is generally acceptable, but it can allow some possibilities for DOS attacks. This is a sample access list for incoming traffic:

Extended IP Access List 101

permit tcp 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any (84 matches)

permit udp 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any

permit icmp 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any (3 matches)

deny ip any any

Extended IP Access List 102

permit eigrp any any (486 matches)

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 echo-reply (1 match)

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 unreachable

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 administratively-prohibited

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 packet-too-big

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 echo (1 match)

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 time-exceeded

deny ip any any (62 matches)

access-list 101 permit tcp 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any

access-list 101 permit udp 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any

access-list 101 permit icmp 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any

access-list 101 deny ip any any

access-list 102 permit eigrp any any

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 echo-reply

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 unreachable

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 administratively-prohibited

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 packet-too-big

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 echo

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 time-exceeded

access-list 102 deny ip any any

Access list 101 is for the outbound traffic. Access list 102 is for the inbound traffic. The access lists permit only a routing protocol, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), and specified ICMP inbound traffic.

In the example, a server on the Ethernet side of the router is not accessible from the Internet. The access list blocks it from establishing a session. To make it accessible, the access list needs to be modified to allow the conversation to occur. To change an access list, remove the access list, edit it, and reapply the updated access list.

Note: The reason that you remove the access-list 102 before edit and reapply, is due to the "deny ip any any" at the end of the access list. In this case, if you were to add a new entry before you remove the access-list, the new entry appears after the deny. Therefore, it is never checked.

This example adds the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for 10.10.10.1 only.

Extended IP Access List 102

permit eigrp any any (385 matches)

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 echo-reply

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 unreachable

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 administratively-prohibited

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 packet-too-big

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 echo

permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 time-exceeded

permit tcp any host 10.10.10.1 eq smtp (142 matches)

!--- In this example, you inspect traffic that has been

!--- initiated from the inside network.

What Traffic Do You Want to Inspect?

The CBAC within Cisco IOS supports:

Keyword Name

Protocol

cuseeme

CUSeeMe Protocol

ftp

File Transfer Protocol

h323

H.323 Protocol (for example Microsoft NetMeeting or Intel Video Phone)

http

HTTP Protocol

rcmd

R commands (r-exec, r-login, r-sh)

realaudio

Real Audio Protocol

rpc

Remote Procedure Call Protocol

smtp

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

sqlnet

SQL Net Protocol

streamworks

StreamWorks Protocol

tcp

Transmission Control Protocol

tftp

TFTP Protocol

udp

User Datagram Protocol

vdolive

VDOLive Protocol

Each protocol is tied to a keyword name. Apply the keyword name to an interface that you want to inspect. For example, this configuration inspects FTP, SMTP, and Telnet:

router1#configure

Configuring from terminal, memory, or network [terminal]? Enter configuration

commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.

router1(config)#ip inspect name mysite ftp

router1(config)#ip inspect name mysite smtp

router1(config)#ip inspect name mysite tcp

router1#show ip inspect config

Session audit trail is disabled

one-minute (sampling period) thresholds are [400:500]connections

max-incomplete sessions thresholds are [400:500]

max-incomplete tcp connections per host is 50.

Block-time 0 minute.

tcp synwait-time is 30 sec -- tcp finwait-time is 5 sec

tcp idle-time is 3600 sec -- udp idle-time is 30 sec

dns-timeout is 5 sec

Inspection Rule Configuration

Inspection name mysite

ftp timeout 3600

smtp timeout 3600

tcp timeout 3600

This document addresses what traffic you want to let out, what traffic you want to let in, and what traffic you want to inspect. Now that you are prepared to configure CBAC, complete these steps:

1. Apply the configuration.

2. Enter the access lists as configured above.

3. Configure the inspection statements.

4. Apply the access lists to the interfaces.

After this procedure, your configuration appears as shown in this diagram and configuration.

Context-Based Access Control Configuration

!

version 11.2

no service password-encryption

service udp-small-servers

service tcp-small-servers

!

hostname router1

!

!

no ip domain-lookup

ip inspect name mysite ftp

ip inspect name mysite smtp

ip inspect name mysite tcp

!

interface Ethernet0

ip address 10.10.10.2 255.255.255.0

ip access-group 101 in

ip inspect mysite in

no keepalive

!

interface Serial0

no ip address

encapsulation frame-relay

no fair-queue

!

interface Serial0.1 point-to-point

ip address 10.10.11.2 255.255.255.252

ip access-group 102 in

frame-relay interface-dlci 200 IETF

!

router eigrp 69

network 10.0.0.0

no auto-summary

!

ip default-gateway 10.10.11.1

no ip classless

ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.10.11.1

access-list 101 permit tcp 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any

access-list 101 permit udp 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any

access-list 101 permit icmp 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 any

access-list 101 deny ip any any

access-list 102 permit eigrp any any

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 echo-reply

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 unreachable

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 administratively-prohibited

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 packet-too-big

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 echo

access-list 102 permit icmp any 10.10.10.0 0.0.0.255 time-exceeded

access-list 102 permit tcp any host 10.10.10.1 eq smtp

access-list 102 deny ip any any

!

line con 0

line vty 0 4

login

!

end

Related Information

- Cisco IOS Firewall Support Page

- Technical Support & Documentation - Cisco Systems