Cisco IOS
TMA-CISCO-IOS-1.2.8
Set 'exec-timeout' to less than or equal to 10 minutes 'line vty'
Description
If no input is detected during the interval, the EXEC facility resumes the current connection. If no connections exist, the EXEC facility returns the terminal to the idle state and disconnects the incoming session. This prevents unauthorized users from misusing abandoned sessions. For example, if the network administrator leaves for the day and leaves a computer open with an enabled login session accessible. The 10 minute default is not shown in the config; fails only if a 'line vty' block sets a timeout above 10 minutes or disables it (0 0). Audited against the output of 'show running-config' (run 'terminal length 0' first; do not use 'show running-config all' or 'show startup-config').
How it is checked
Audit method: Configuration pattern
- Pattern
(?m)^line vty[^\n]*\n(?:[ \t][^\n]*\n)*?[ \t]+exec-timeout (?:0(?: 0)?|(?:1[1-9]|[2-9]\d|[1-9]\d{2,})(?: \d+)?|10 0*[1-9]\d*)[ \t\r]*$
How it is fixed
Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch
! Configure device timeout (10 minutes or less) to disconnect sessions after a fixed idle time. line vty {line_number} [ending_line_number] exec-timeout <timeout_in_minutes> <timeout_in_seconds>
Properties
- Operating systems
- Any
- Tags
- cisco-iosnetworkntp
- Reference
- CIS Cisco IOS XE 17.x Benchmark v2.2.1 - 1.2.8 Set 'exec-timeout' to less than or equal to 10 minutes 'line vty'
Check this host
Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.
tmaegis scan --target cisco-ios