Proper ASA-SSM-20 IPS and MARS Intergration

I?m trying to understand how to best manage my MARS and ASA-SSM-20 IPS implementation. I?ve been running this solution for about 2 months and have been experimenting with how to manage alert s from the blades to MARS.
The MARS documentation says to configure 2 Event Action Override -Verbose Alerts and Log Pair Packets. However there seems to be a major drawback:
1. The IPS generates alert for signatures that by default have no alert action configured. At first glance this seems ok, but over time I found that many false positives are generated for signatures that would otherwise remain quite.
My question is, how should this be managed? I want verbose alerts and logged pair packets for signatures that produce alerts by default, but if I manually configure this, is there a performance consideration?

You might be hitting the bug CSCuc34812.
Please contact Cisco TAC to have the issue analyzed.
Regards,
Sawan Gupta

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Automated attack mitigation with IPS and MARS

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could explain how a MARS alert can automatically update IPS signatures (within an ASA) to isolate the threat.
This is stated as a feature in the MARS datasheet but the config documentation does not appear to show the process.
Thanks

Follow the URL for the configuring the Cisco Security MARS Local Controller which will help you. :
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/security_management/cs-mars/4.3/user/guide/local_controller/cfgidsn.html

Monitor Inspection Load IPS ASA-SSM-20

All,
I am aware there is a feature request but don't see any updates. Taking the chance here that its fallen through the cracks and someone has figured out another way to monitor inspection load on ASA-SSM-20 IPS. We are currently running 7.0(5a)E4. I want to be able to use Solarwinds Orion to monitor Inspection Load on our IPS devices. Does anyone know if that is yet possible...if so how?
Thanks!

Bump +1

Upgrading IPS strings, ASA SSM-10 module

I am having a challenging time upgrading the ASA SSM-10 IPS module. I down loaded the IPS-sig-s327-req-e1.pkg to Win XP ftp server (my workstation). The instructions in following does not work: http://download-sj.cisco.com/cisco/ciscosecure/ips/6.x/sigup/IPS-sig-S327.readme.txt
"error: execUpgradeSoftware : Connect failed". Any suggestion would be appreciated.

I can connect the LAN switch directly to the inside interface of the ASA5510 firewall. Hosts can get Internet connectivity while cabled to the switch. However, when the LAN switch is connected to the port on the IPS module, there is no Internet connectivity. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The following is the sh configuration and sh int output.
sh con_[Jfiguration
Version 5.1(6)
! Current configuration last modified Sat Apr 05 12:28:11 2008
service interface
exit
service analysis-engine
virtual-sensor vs0
physical-interface GigabitEthernet0/1
exit
exit
service authentication
exit
service event-action-rules rules0
exit
service host
network-settings
host-ip 192.168.1.36/24,192.168.1.10
host-name ips
telnet-option enabled
--MORE--
access-list 0.0.0.0/0
exit
time-zone-settings
offset 0
standard-time-zone-name UTC
exit
exit
service logger
exit
service network-access
exit
service notification
exit
service signature-definition sig0
exit
service ssh-known-hosts
exit
service trusted-certificates
--MORE--
exit
service web-server
exit
ips# sh inter_[Jfaces _[2C
Interface Statistics
Total Packets Received = 6806
Total Bytes Received = 2001784
Missed Packet Percentage = 0
Current Bypass Mode = Auto_off
MAC statistics from interface GigabitEthernet0/1
Interface function = Sensing interface
Description =
Media Type = backplane
Missed Packet Percentage = 0
Inline Mode = Unpaired
Pair Status = N/A
Link Status = Up
Link Speed = Auto_1000
Link Duplex = Auto_Full
Total Packets Received = 6807
Total Bytes Received = 2001866
Total Multicast Packets Received = 0
Total Broadcast Packets Received = 0
Total Jumbo Packets Received = 0
Total Undersize Packets Received = 0
Total Receive Errors = 0
Total Receive FIFO Overruns = 0
Total Packets Transmitted = 6807
--MORE--
Total Bytes Transmitted = 2017118
Total Multicast Packets Transmitted = 0
Total Broadcast Packets Transmitted = 0
Total Jumbo Packets Transmitted = 0
Total Undersize Packets Transmitted = 0
Total Transmit Errors = 0
Total Transmit FIFO Overruns = 0
MAC statistics from interface GigabitEthernet0/0
Interface function = Command-control interface
Description =
Media Type = TX
Link Status = Down
Link Speed = N/A
Link Duplex = N/A
Total Packets Received = 126
Total Bytes Received = 14255
Total Multicast Packets Received = 0
Total Receive Errors = 0
Total Receive FIFO Overruns = 0
Total Packets Transmitted = 1
Total Bytes Transmitted = 64
Total Transmit Errors = 0
Total Transmit FIFO Overruns = 0

Cisco IPS ASA SSM-10

I am using an ASA SSM-10 IPS. Currently it keeps logging those event of alerts.
Where does the IPS keeps all those event logs? In the disk space?
Where can i see how much space i left?
Will it went down if the space is full?

This is from the post I linked earlier, and you don't have to worry the sensor will definitely not go 'down', the event-log data structure is circular and is over-written every time it is full.
"The eventStore size starting at version 5.0(1) is a fixed 30 Meg. Its a *circular* eventStore that is intended to wrap (new events overwriting oldest events). The usual sensor deployment includes some sort of remote event monitor application (like IEV,IME etc.) that pulls events from the sensor. The eventStore acts as a buffer to allow the remote monitoring app to keep up with busy sensors. If your eventStore wraps every few hours then the monitoring app should be able to keep up with all the events being generated. The concern would be if the eventStore continuously wrapped in less than 10 or 15 minutes. At that point you may be loosing events and would need to tune the sensor signature config to only alarm on meaningful events."
I'm assuming since the event-store is only 30 MB, its a 'part' of one of the following parititions:
application-data OR application-log
Most probably the first one.
Regards
Farrukh

ASA-SSM-10 Signature Update Errors Messages

Hello,
I am getting error messages on ASA-SSM-10 IPS. It has following configuration:
Model:   ASA-SSM-10
Hardware version:   1.0
Firmware version:   1.0(11)5
Software version:   7.0(7)E4
App. version:       7.0(7)E4
Here are error messages:
evError: eventId=1334244240891143986 vendor=Cisco severity=error
originator:
    hostId: sensor
    appName: mainApp
    appInstanceId: 357
errorMessage: No installable auto update package found on server name=errSystemError
evError: eventId=1334244240891141857 vendor=Cisco severity=error
originator:
    hostId: sensor
    appName: mainApp
    appInstanceId: 357
errorMessage: could not parse cisco-locator-server response name=errSystemError
evError: eventId=1334244240891142089 vendor=Cisco severity=error
originator:
    hostId: sensor
    appName: collaborationApp
    appInstanceId: 489
errorMessage: A global correlation update failed: Receive HTTP response failed [3,212]
Messages, like this one, in the category - Reputation update failure - were logged 1 times in the last 105245 seconds. name=errUnclassified
evError: eventId=1334244240891141325 vendor=Cisco severity=error
originator:
    hostId: sensor
    appName: mainApp
    appInstanceId: 357
errorMessage: could not parse cisco-locator-server response name=errSystemError
Actually IPS is doing signature and Global Correlation updates, but form time to time I see these error messages. Do you have any information what could it indicate.

Hello Giorgi,
Sometimes it may be server saturation, other connection problems proxy and so on. I recommend you to not put the hour for auto update to an exact time ie 2:00 PM or 1:00 AM try putting not even numbers like 9:17 or 10:41, and see if you continue getting these errors.
Mike

ASA SSM-10 Need to restore factory defaults

I had a consultant come in and install the IPS on my firewall, well he forget the login password for the SSM-10 IPS and now I can't get into it. I have tried all the hw module 1 restart, reload, config options and have removed the card and looked for a hard reset button but nothing has worked. How do I get into the IPS so I can reset the password?
Rich Weber

Hi,
The only way is to do a recovery, complete instructions are at:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/vpndevc/ps4077/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a008045a95f.html
In a nutshell:
1) cable the ssm module to a tftp server (can be via a switch or whatever)
2) issue the hw-module command to do a configure (enter params as prompted)
3) issue the hw-module command to reboot
Note that your tftp server needs to be able to handle files >16MB
HTH - plz rate if it does
Andrew.

ASA SSM IPS module upgrade won't work

Hello all,
I'm trying to upgrade the IPS sig's on an ASA5520 with a SSM IPS module. I'm trying to upgrade the system to 5.1.1 to further upgrade the device with no luck.
I followed these steps provided by Cisco.com:
1. Log in to the ASA.
2. Enter enable mode:
asa# enable
3. Configure the recovery settings for ASA-SSM:
asa (enable)# hw-module module 1 recover configure
NOTE: If you make an error in the recovery configuration, use the
hw-module module 1 recover stop command to stop the system reimaging
and then you can correct the configuration.
4. Specify the TFTP URL for the system image:
Image URL [tftp://0.0.0.0/]:
Example:
Image URL [tftp://0.0.0.0/]: tftp://10.20.30.40/IPS-SSM-K9-sys-1.1-a-5.1-1.img
5. Specify the command and control interface of ASA-SSM:
Port IP Address [0.0.0.0]:
Example:
Port IP Address [0.0.0.0]: 11.21.31.41
6. Leave the VLAN ID at 0.
VLAN ID [0]:
7. Specify the default gateway of the ASA-SSM:
Gateway IP Address [0.0.0.0]:
Example:
Gateway IP Address [0.0.0.0]: 11.22.33.44
8. Execute the recovery:
asa# hw-module module 1 recover boot
9. Periodically check the recovery until it is complete.
NOTE: The status reads "Recovery" during recovery and reads "Up" when
reimaging is complete.
AFter #8 it just goes back to the enable prompt. A 'sh module' lists the device as 'recover' and hangs FOREVER.... I tested the TFTP server which the new image resides on, and the TFTP is working fine. I don't see any attempts or downloads from the TFTP server for over an hour.
I opened a Ciscop TAC on this and not receiving alot of help...
Please help!!!:)
Thanks
Chris Serafin
[email protected]

The recovery using this method can takes upwards of 30 minutes, and in some cases even longer.
How long have you left the SSM in the "recovery" state?
There may be something wrong in the config you entered. when that happens the SSM can go into a continuous reboot cycle trying to do the recovery.
Execute "debug module-boot" on the console of the ASA.
The debug output will show you the ROMMON output of the SSM itself. (The SSM has it's own ROMMON. The recovery boot command sends the settings made during the recover configure command to the SSM's ROMMON).
If the ROMMON is experiencing a problem in trying to download the tftp image you should now see that ROMMON error message.
Some typical problems I have seen:
1) Wrong IP given for the sensor.
2) Wrong IP given for the gateway (the gateway must exist on the same network as the sensor) this problem usually happens when using a non-standard netmasked network.
3) Not having the sensor's command and control port plugged into the right network. The external port of the SSM itself is where the IP is being applied. You need to ensure that the extenral port of the SSM is plugged into the right network for that IP.
4) The tftp server is not reachable from the network where the sensor's command and control port is attached. Some users think that if the ASA itself can reach the tftp server that the SSM will also be able to. This is not always the case. It is best to use a tftp server on the same network as the IP provided to the SSM. Or to test the tftp server from another machine on the same network as the SSM.
5) The file name is wrong. Check the captialization especially.
6) The file is not in the default directory on the tftp server. If the file is in a subdirectory you will need to add that subdirectory to the URL:
tftp://10.20.30.40/subdirectoryname/filename
7) The tftp is timing out.
There are 2 things that can cause this:
a) The tftp server is remote, and it takes too long to download the file. The ROMMON does have limits on the number of retries and per packet timeouts (but they are not user configurable). Try using a tftp server local to the SSM.
b) The switch that the SSM connects to has spanning-tree running and spanning-tree does not complete before the SSM ROMMON times out for the tftp attempt. The tftp attempt happens immediately upon ROMMON startup and link up. But with a switch the switch port may be in a "Listen" or "Learn" state for 40 seconds before the box can actually talk on the network. In some cases the tftp download attempts started as soon as link up, and may timeout even before the spanning-tree completes. To work around this configure "spanning-tree portfast" on the switchport. Spanning-tree will connect the port into the vlan immediately rather than 40 seconds later.
If it was a config problem when configuring the recovery settings, then there is a "recover stop" command on the ASA.
It will stop the reboot cycle from happening.
Let the module come up with the old image.
Then correct your "recover configure" settings, and try the "recover boot" again.
Another alternative:
Stop the recovery "recover stop"
Let it boot into the old image.
If it was a 5.0 version, then you can actually upgrade to 5.1 using the sensor's own CLI "upgrade" command. It is actually the preferred method.
The "recover" from the ASA will wipe the box clean and load a fresh image.
The "upgrade" from the sensor will convert your 5.0 config into a 5.1 config while installing 5.1.
5.1 upgrade file:
IPS-K9-min-5.1-1g.pkg
http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/ips5
It can be applied through the sensor's CLI upgrade command, or pushed directly through IDM, or applied by CSM.
The "recover" should be limited to disaster recovery. When you can't access the SSM at all, or the files on the SSM have been corrupted.
For normal upgrades you want to use "upgrade" files done through the sensor itelf (CLI, IDM, or CSM).

Correlating Cisco ASA-SSM-IPS Events/Logs

I have just configured a Cisco ASA-SSM-IPS10. An exciting feature of this decice is the ability to monitor, analyse, and correlate security events. Can anybody help with a documentation to simplify daily (or periodic) analysis, and correlation of the IPS Logs? As I am not yet to up to speed with this task yet, a "How-to" document would be just fine. Thank you.

Hi Chris,
Good to have you get on the case. I am yet to setup and ips manager software. Presently, I use an ASDM 6 interface, with this interface, I am able to view events and alerts, and perform other adminsitrative cores... The IPS manager express does it comes bundle with our device purchase? Does it contain necesary templates/docs for correlating events/Logs?

Evet Store on IPS ASA-SSM-10

Hi Guys.
I'm trying to find out the size of the evnet store for the IPS ASA-SSM-10 and if it's possible to configure how it will be overwritten.
I can't find any information about it.
Does anyone konw anything?
Best Regards

Ernesto
I found this in the configuration manual for the IPS:
The following password recovery options exist:
?If another Administrator account exists, the other Administrator can change the password.
?If a Service account exists, you can log in to the service account and switch to user root using the command su - root. Use the password command to change the CLI Administrator account's password. For example, if the Administrator username is "adminu," the command is password adminu. You are prompted to enter the new password twice. For more information, see Creating the Service Account.
You can reimage the sensor using either the recovery partition or a system image file.
If you want to see more detail here is the URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/vpndevc/ps4077/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a008055dfcd.html
HTH
Rick

ASA and MARS

Hello. Can I use a couple of ASAs and MARS to log visited URLs with the Active Directory username that visited the specific URL?

No, you'll need a proxy server for that. Take a look at Ironport (owned by Cisco) for web security.
http://www.ironport.com/products/web_security_appliances.html
Hope it helps.

How do I backup an IPS config (ASA-SSM-10)

Hi,
How do I backup an IPS config (ASA-SSM-10)?
Thanks

There is a copy command in the IPS CLI that can be used to copy the current configuration to a backup configuration on the sensor itself.
Or to copy the current configuration to an FTP or SCP server.
The copy command can then be used to copy a configuration from backup or from an FTP or SCP server back to the running configuration of the sensor.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/ips/6.2/command/reference/crCmds.html#wp458440

ASA app layer inspection and CX IPS inspection

ASA application layer inspection is critical for protocols such as FTP and SIP for well known reasons. When implementing a CX module, my understanding is that either the ASA implements inspection or the CX implements inspection. For instance, if I want my CX to inspect HTTP I need to forward that traffic via a policy-map to the CX engine and ensure that the ASA is not configured to inspect HTTP. Easy enough.
What I am unclear about is if it is desired for the CX to inspect protocols such as FTP and SIP. In my case I'm running the CX IPS which does list some FTP and SIP threats. If I direct this traffic to the CX for IPS inspection, where would the app layer inspection occur for processing SIP embedded IP addresses or FTP secondary channels? Or, is it necessary to ensure these protocols remain inspected by the ASA? Finally, does the answer change for the WSE license?

Hogoqo,
Thanks for the reply. Does this config mean that "default-inspection-traffic" will not be sent to the IPS module?
What I initially wanted was to send ALL traffic to the IPS module, and also use statefull inspection for the default-inspection-traffic.
Is this a bad practice (to send all traffic to the IPS module)?
The ASA is configured with 3 interfaces (inside, outside, dmz), with an e-mail server in the DMZ. In the future, there will also be e-commerce servers in the DMZ.
Should I send to the IPS module only traffic that has the destination as one of the DMZ servers?
I am new to IPS, and kind of confused.
Thanks!

ASA-SSM-20 and tacacs+

Does anyone know how to configure tacacs+ on an ASA-SSM-20? Is it even supported?

You can't.
external authentication is not supported on the sensors. No TACACS+, no RADIUS, JUST local user accounts with password.
Makes my IPS devices fail the security audit every time.

How to do a factory reset ASA-SSM-10?

Hi.
I forgot the user for management a IPS SSM-10, when i follow the procedure to reset the password for cisco user, i can get into the module, i change the password and every thing is OK, but when i tried to configure y don´t have rights to do anything.
if i see the privileges for the user cisco this is the result
EDGE-IPS2# sh user
    CLI ID   User    Privilege
*   4143     cisco   viewer
Application Partition:
Cisco Intrusion Prevention System, Version 6.1(1)E2
Host:
    Realm Keys          key1.0
Signature Definition:
    Signature Update    S364.0                   2008-10-24
    Virus Update        V1.4                     2007-03-02
OS Version:             2.4.30-IDS-smp-bigphys
Platform:               ASA-SSM-10
Serial Number:          JAF1208BNPP
License expired:        20-Jun-2009 UTC
Sensor up-time is 1:09.
Using 657850368 out of 1032495104 bytes of available memory (63% usage)
system is using 17.7M out of 29.0M bytes of available disk space (61% usage)
application-data is using 41.5M out of 166.8M bytes of available disk space (26% usage)
boot is using 40.5M out of 68.6M bytes of available disk space (62% usage)
MainApp          M-2008_APR_24_19_16    (Release)   2008-04-24T19:49:05-0500   Running
AnalysisEngine   ME-2008_JUN_05_18_26   (Release)   2008-06-05T18:55:02-0500   Running
CLI              M-2008_APR_24_19_16    (Release)   2008-04-24T19:49:05-0500
Upgrade History:
* IPS-K9-6.1-1-E2           22:40:50 UTC Tue Feb 26 2013
IPS-sig-S364-req-E2.pkg   18:43:20 UTC Wed Nov 12 2008
Recovery Partition Version 1.1 - 6.1(1)E2
Host Certificate Valid from: 17-Nov-2008 to 18-Nov-2010
What can i do in this case?
IPS Info
Getting details from the Service Module, please wait...
ASA 5500 Series Security Services Module-10
Model:              ASA-SSM-10
Hardware version:   1.0
Serial Number:      JAF1208BNPP
Firmware version:   1.0(11)4
Software version:   6.1(1)E2
MAC Address Range: 001e.f710.5b6c to 001e.f710.5b6c
App. name:          IPS
App. Status:        Up
App. Status Desc:
App. version:       6.1(1)E2
Data plane Status: Up
Status:             Up
Mgmt IP addr:       X.X.X.X
Mgmt web ports:     443
Mgmt TLS enabled:

The process will normally use the following command:
hw-module module 1 password-reset
It will reload the ASA and when loggin back the "Cisco" username will have admin rights.
If this is not your case, a re-image of the unit will be the next step, keep in mind that this will remove all the custom config.

Proper ASA-SSM-20 IPS and MARS Intergration

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