HPE6-A78 Aruba Certified Network Security Associate Exam Questions and Answers

When vulnerabilities are identified in systems, it is crucial for administrators to act immediately to mitigate the risk of exploitation by attackers. The appropriate response involves applying fixes, such as software patches or configuration changes, to close the vulnerability. This proactive approach is necessary to protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the system resources and data. It's important to prioritize these actions based on the severity and exploitability of the vulnerability to ensure that the most critical issues are addressed first.References:

• Best practices in system security management.

An ArubaOS user role determines the firewall policies and bandwidth contracts that apply to the client’s traffic. When a user is authenticated, they are assigned a role, and this role has associated policies that govern network access rights, Quality of Service (QoS), Layer 2 forwarding, Layer 3 routing behaviors, and bandwidth contracts for users or devices.

References:

• Aruba Networks official documentation on user roles in ArubaOS.
• Technical guides that detail user role definitions and their impact on network policies.

Tunneling traffic between an Aruba switch and an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC) allows for the centralized application of firewall policies and deep packet inspection to wired clients. By directing traffic through the MC, network administrators can implement a consistent set of security policies across both wired and wireless segments of the network, enhancing overall network security posture.

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) relies on a trusted root Certification Authority (CA) to issue certificates. Devices and users must trust the root CA for the PKI to be effective. If a root CA certificate is not pre-installed or manually chosen to be trusted on a device, any certificates issued by that CA will not be inherently trusted by the device.

RadSec (RADIUS over TLS) is a protocol for transporting RADIUS messages over TLS-encrypted TCP/IP networks. The primary use case for implementing RadSec instead of traditional RADIUS is to protect RADIUS communications, particularly when those messages must travel across an untrusted network, such as the internet. RadSec provides confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for RADIUS traffic between clients and servers which may not be within a single secure network. In the case of a school district that wants to ensure the security of messages sent between RADIUS clients and servers over potentially insecure networks, RadSec would be the appropriate choice.

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) can indeed be exploited to conduct various types of attacks, most notably ARP spoofing/poisoning. Gratuitous ARP is a special kind of ARP message which is used by an IP node to announce or update its IP to MAC mapping to the entire network. A hacker can abuse this by sending out gratuitous ARP messages pretending to associate the IP address of the router (default gateway) with their own MAC address. This results in traffic that was supposed to go to the router being sent to the attacker instead, thus potentially enabling the attacker to intercept, modify, or block traffic.

For following Aruba best security practices, the setting you should change is to disable local authentication. When integrating with an external RADIUS server like ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) for authenticating administrative access to the Mobility Controller (MC), it is a best practice to rely on the external server rather than the local user database. This practice not only centralizes the management of user roles and access but also enhances security by leveraging CPPM's advanced authentication mechanisms.

References:

• Aruba Networks official best practice documentation, which recommends centralized authentication for administrative access.
• Security standards and guidelines that promote the use of external RADIUS servers for authentication purposes.

In managing ArubaOS-Switches, the best practice is to disable less secure protocols such as Telnet and use more secure alternatives like SSH (Secure Shell). SSH provides encrypted connections between network devices, which is critical for maintaining the security and integrity of network communications. This guideline is aligned with general security best practices that prioritize the use of protocols with strong, built-in encryption mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access and ensure data privacy.

WPA3-Enterprise enhances network security over WPA2-Enterprise through several improvements, one of which is the ability to operate in CNSA (Commercial National Security Algorithm) mode. This mode mandates the use of secure cryptographic algorithms during the 802.11 association process, ensuring that all communications are highly secure. The CNSA suite provides stronger encryption standards designed to protect sensitive government, military, and industrial communications. Unlike WPA2, WPA3's CNSA mode uses stronger cryptographic primitives, such as AES-256 in Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) for encryption and SHA-384 for hashing, which are not standard in WPA2-Enterprise.

Control Plane Security (CPsec) enhances security in the network by protecting management traffic between APs and Mobility Controllers (MCs) from eavesdropping. CPsec ensures that all control and management traffic that transits the network is encrypted, thus preventing potential attackers from gaining access to sensitive management data. It helps in securing the network's control plane, which is crucial for maintaining the integrity and privacy of the network operations.References:

• Aruba Networks' CPsec documentation.

ClearPass Onboard is part of the Aruba ClearPass suite and it provides a mechanism to deploy certificates to end-user devices, regardless of whether or not they are members of a Windows domain. ClearPass Onboard facilitates the configuration and provisioning of network settings and security, including the delivery and installation of certificates to ensure secure network access. This capability enables a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment where devices can be securely managed and provided with the necessary certificates for network authentication.

To enable managers to use certificates to log into the Web UI of an Aruba Mobility Controller (MC), where Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) acts as the external server for authentication, it is essential to ensure that the MC trusts the HTTPS certificate used by CPPM. This involves uploading a trusted CA certificate to the MC that matches the one used by CPPM. Additionally, configuring a username and password for CPPM on the MC might be necessary to secure and facilitate communication between the MC and CPPM. This setup ensures that certificate-based authentication is securely validated, maintaining secure access control for the Web UI.

References:

• Aruba Mobility Controller configuration guides that detail the process of setting up certificate-based authentication.
• Best practices for secure authentication and certificate management in enterprise network environments.

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack where an attacker impersonates a trusted entity to deceive people into providing sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers. An example of phishing is when an attacker sends emails posing as a service team member or a legitimate organization with the intention of getting users to disclose their passwords or other confidential information. These emails often contain links to fake websites that look remarkably similar to legitimate ones, tricking users into entering their details.References:

• Cybersecurity guidelines on identifying and preventing phishing attacks.

To ensure that only management stations in the subnet 192.168.1.0/24 can access the ArubaOS-Switches' Command Line Interface (CLI), Web UI, and REST interfaces, while also allowing managers to access other parts of the network, you should specify 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 as the authorized manager IP address on the switches. This configuration will restrict access to the switch management interfaces to devices within the specified IP address range, effectively creating a management access list.

References:

• ArubaOS-Switch management and configuration guide detailing IP authorized manager settings.
• Network management best practices which recommend controlling access to network devices' management interfaces.

If clients cannot authenticate and there is no record of the authentication attempt in Aruba ClearPass Access Tracker, two possible problems that could cause this symptom are:

• The RADIUS shared secret does not match between the switch and CPPM. This mismatch would prevent the switch and CPPM from successfully communicating, so authentication attempts would fail, and no record would appear in Access Tracker.
• CPPM does not have a network device profile defined for the switch's IP address. Without a network device profile, CPPM would not recognize authentication attempts coming from the switch and would not process them, resulting in no logs in Access Tracker.

The other options are incorrect because:

• Users logging in with the wrong credentials would still generate an attempt record in Access Tracker.
• Clients configured to use a mismatched EAP method would also generate an attempt record in Access Tracker.
• Clients not configured to trust the root CA certificate for CPPM's RADIUS/EAP certificate might fail authentication, but the attempt would still be logged in Access Tracker.

Tarpit containment is a method used in ArubaOS Wireless Intrusion Prevention (WIP) to contain rogue APs. It differs from traditional wireless containment in several ways, particularly in how it interacts with clients and manages network resources.

Tarpit containment works by spoofing frames from an AP to confuse a client about its association. It forces the client to associate with a fake channel or BSSID, which is more efficient than rogue containment via repeated de-authorization requests. This method is designed to be less disruptive and more resource-efficient1.

Here’s why the other options are not correct:

• Option A is incorrect because tarpit containment does not involve sending ARP frames over the wired network. It operates wirelessly by creating a fake channel or BSSID.
• Option B is incorrect because tarpit containment does not selectively target authorized clients; it affects all clients connected to the rogue AP.
• Option C is incorrect because tarpit containment does require an RF Protect license to function2.

Therefore, Option D is the correct answer. Tarpit containment is more effective at keeping clients off the network with fewer disassociation frames than traditional wireless containment. It achieves this by forming associations with clients, which leads to a more efficient use of airtime and reduces the chance of negative effects on legitimate network users12.

ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) uses various methods to classify endpoints, and one of them is TCP fingerprinting, which involves analyzing TCP/IP packets to identify the type of device or operating system sending them. To utilize TCP fingerprinting capabilities, network traffic needs to be accessible to the CPPM. This can be done by mirroring traffic to CPPM’s span port from a device that can see the traffic, like a core routing switch. This approach allows CPPM to observe the TCP characteristics of devices as they communicate over the network, enabling it to make more accurate decisions for device classification.

To configure the infrastructure to support network scans as part of the ClearPass Policy Manager (CPPM) solution, creating SNMPv3 users on ArubaOS-CX switches is necessary. Ensuring that the credentials for these SNMPv3 users match those configured on CPPM is crucial for enabling CPPM to perform network scans effectively. SNMPv3 provides a secure method for network management by offering authentication and encryption, which are essential for safely conducting scans that classify endpoints by type. This configuration allows CPPM to communicate securely with the switches and gather necessary data without compromising network security.

References:

• ArubaOS-CX configuration manuals that discuss SNMP settings.
• Network management and security guidelines that emphasize the importance of secure SNMP configurations for network scanning and monitoring.

In WPA3-Enterprise, the Pairwise Master Key (PMK) is indeed unique for each session and is derived using a process called Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE). SAE is a new handshake protocol available in WPA3 that provides better security than the Pre-Shared Key (PSK) used in WPA2. This handshake process strengthens user privacy in open networks and provides forward secrecy. The information on SAE and its use in generating a unique PMK can be found in the Wi-Fi Alliance's WPA3 specifications and related technical documentation.

For deploying Aruba ClearPass Device Insight effectively, especially in environments with multiple sites, it is recommended to deploy a pair of Device Insight Collectors at the headquarters or the central data center. This deployment strategy helps in centralizing the data collection and analysis, which simplifies management and enhances performance by reducing the data load on the WAN links connecting different sites. Centralizing the collectors at a major site or data center allows for better scalability and reliability of the network management system. This configuration also aids in achieving a more consistent and comprehensive monitoring and analysis of the devices across the network, ensuring that the security and management policies are uniformly applied. This recommendation is based on best practices for network architecture design, particularly those discussed in Aruba’s deployment guides and network management strategies.

For an ArubaOS-CX switch enforcing 802.1X on a port without any fallback options or port-access roles configured, and where the supplicant on the connected client has not completed authentication, the only type of traffic the authenticator accepts from the client is EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol). EAP is a universal authentication framework used in 802.1X for message exchange during the authentication process. The switch allows EAP packets because they are necessary for the client and the authentication server to perform the authentication process. This is standard behavior for 802.1X authenticators, which is to permit EAP traffic to pass through even before authentication is successful to facilitate the authentication exchange. This information is supported by the IEEE 802.1X standard and ArubaOS-CX security configuration guides.

In ArubaOS-CX, managing and searching logs can be crucial for tracking and diagnosing issues related to network operations such as port authentication. To efficiently find logs related to port authentication, configuring a logging filter specifically for this category is highly effective.

• Logging Filter Configuration: In ArubaOS-CX, you can configure logging filters to refine the logs that are collected and viewed. By setting up a filter for the "port-access" category, you focus the logging system to only capture and display entries related to port authentication events. This approach reduces the volume of log data to sift through, making it easier to identify relevant issues.
• Global Application of Filter: Applying the filter globally ensures that all relevant log messages, regardless of their origin within the switch's modules or interfaces, are captured under the specified category. This global application is crucial for comprehensive monitoring across the entire device.
• Alternative Options and Their Evaluation:

A rogue radio operating in ad hoc mode with open security can pose several threats to a network. Ad hoc networks allow direct device-to-device communication without centralized control. If such a radio is present within or near a corporate environment, it can potentially be used to create a peer-to-peer network that bypasses corporate security controls, effectively acting as a backdoor into the corporate network for unauthorized users or devices. This can lead to a breach of data security and unauthorized access to network resources.

In the 802.1X network access control model, the roles of the authenticator and the authentication server are distinct yet complementary. The authenticator acts as a RADIUS client, which is a network device, like a switch or wireless access point, that directly interfaces with the client machine (supplicant). The authentication server, typically a RADIUS server, is responsible for verifying the credentials provided by the supplicant through the authenticator. This setup helps in separating the duties where the authenticator enforces authentication but does not decide on the validity of the credentials, which is the role of the authentication server.References:

• IEEE 802.1X standard for network access control.

Referring to the exhibit, the ArubaOS Mobility Controller treats HTTPS packets based on the firewall rules applied to the client. The rule that allows svc-https service for destination IP range 10.1.0.0 255.255.0.0 would permit an HTTPS packet to 10.1.10.10 since this IP address falls within the specified range. There are no rules shown that would allow traffic to the IP address 203.0.13.5; hence, the packet to this address would be dropped.

References:

• ArubaOS firewall configuration guides detailing how firewall rules are interpreted and applied to traffic.
• Network security textbooks explaining firewall rule processing and packet filtering based on source and destination IP addresses.

Based on the exhibit, which shows the settings on the company's Mobility Controllers (MCs), with 'Control Plane Security' enabled and 'Enable auto cert provisioning' available, new Aruba 335-APs require approval on the MC to become managed. This is commonly done by adding the APs to an authorized AP whitelist, after which they can be automatically provisioned with certificates generated by the MC.

To enable an ArubaOS Mobility Controller (MC) to accept Change of Authorization (CoA) messages from a RADIUS server for wireless sessions on a WLAN, part of the setup on the MC involves creating a dynamic authorization, or RFC 3576, server with the provided IP address (10.5.5.5) and the correct shared secret. This setup allows the MC to handle CoA requests, which are used to change the authorization attributes of a session after it has been authenticated, such as disconnecting a user or changing a user's VLAN assignment.

In the AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting) framework, the role of the Network Access Server (NAS) is to act as a gateway that enforces access to network services and sends accounting information to the AAA server. The NAS initially requests authentication information from the user and then passes that information to the AAA server. It also enforces the access policies as provided by the AAA server after authentication and provides accounting data to the AAA server based on user activity.

References:

• Technical literature on AAA protocols which often includes a description of the roles and responsibilities of a Network Access Server.
• Network security resources that discuss the NAS function within the AAA framework.