The trend seems to be moving towards application based devices blurring the
lines between routers, switches, firewalls, etc. After all enough
horsepower goes into many of the newer devices to accomodate all these
functions. Whether it's a router, a switch, a firewall, a load balancer, an
ids, an ips, it's all really just software modules. Like someone else said
this would probably not be a pentest bonanza if set up properly. On the
other hand would I feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Not yet anyway. I suppose
it really isn't very different than having these functions on separate
physical devices as a misconfiguration anywhere couls lead to a security
risk. However my concern lies more in the fact that functions such as MLS
and others devised to speed up packet processing could potentially cause
packets to bypass a desired function due to an "undocumented feature" (ie. a
bug).
Peter
----- Original Message -----
From: "cableguy clueless" <cluelesscableguy@gmail.com>
To: <pen-test@securityfocus.com>
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 1:08 PM
Subject: Clueless firewall configuration ?
Guys, I need to ask a favor, my boss knows nothing of IT
infrastructure, and our "cableguy" (manages the firewall through a
third party contract) proposed to him an architecture as follows :
2 cisco 6509 each with firewall blade in them. These function as core
switches for a 1000 users site with lots of vlans and FW roules
between the vlans (oh and we are a big production site that relies on
these cores to let our ciritical bussiness process machines
communicate to the servers).
He wants to create 2 vlans, 1 for untrusted traffic and 1 vlan for DMZ
machines and assign physical ports to these to connect to the
internet. The DMZ vlan would also have some physical ports. These
ports would not be on the core switch but on the access layer switches
that are fiber attached to the distribution switches that attach to
the cores...
Does anyone care to comment on the security issues a setup as this
would pose? would this be pentest bonanza for you guys? and what would
the hackers make of a dmz vlan living in a big switch together with
other vlans?
I have some ideas myself, but would appreciate your take on this. I
know this is the pentest list but it is you guys who get to poke holes
in these designs...
CCG
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This List Sponsored by: Cenzic
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most comprehensive solutions to meet your application security penetration
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managed service (Cenzic ClickToSecure) or an enterprise software
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