Help us improve your experience.

Let us know what you think.

Do you have time for a two-minute survey?

Announcement: Try the Ask AI chatbot for answers to your technical questions about Juniper products and solutions.

close
header-navigation
keyboard_arrow_up
close
keyboard_arrow_left
list Table of Contents
file_download PDF
{ "lLangCode": "en", "lName": "English", "lCountryCode": "us", "transcode": "en_US" }
English
keyboard_arrow_right

Enabling FIPS Mode

date_range 01-Nov-21

When Junos OS is installed on a device and the device is powered on, it is ready to be configured. Initially, you log in as the user root with no password. When you log in as root, your SSH connection is enabled by default.

As Crypto Officer, you must establish a root password conforming to the FIPS password requirements in Understanding Password Specifications and Guidelines for Junos OS in FIPS Mode. When you enable FIPS mode in Junos OS on the device, you cannot configure passwords unless they meet this standard.

Local passwords are encrypted with the secure hash algorithm SHA256 or SHA512. Password recovery is not possible in Junos OS in FIPS mode. Junos OS in FIPS mode cannot boot into single-user mode without the correct root password.

To enable FIPS mode in Junos OS on the device:

  1. Zeroize the device to delete all CSPs before entering FIPS mode. Refer to Understanding Zeroization to Clear System Data for FIPS Mode section for details.
  2. After the device comes up in ’Amnesiac mode’, login using username root and password "" (blank).
    content_copy zoom_out_map
    FreeBSD/amd64 (Amnesiac) (ttyu0)
    login: root
    --- JUNOS 20.3X75-D30.1 Kernel 64-bit JNPR-11.0-20190701.269d466_buil
    root@:~ #  cli
    root>
  3. Configure root authentication with password at least 10 characters or more.
    content_copy zoom_out_map
    root> edit
    Entering configuration mode
    [edit]
    root# set system root-authentication plain-text-password 
    New password:
    Retype new password:
    [edit]
    root# commit
    commit complete
  4. Load configuration onto device and commit new configuration. Configure crypto-officer and login with crypto-officer credentials.
  5. Install fips-mode package needed for Routing Engine KATS.
    content_copy zoom_out_map
    root@hostname> request system software add optional://fips-mode.tgz
    Verified fips-mode signed by PackageDevelopmentEc_2017 method ECDSA256+SHA256
  6. For MX Series devices,
    • Configure chassis boundary fips by setting set system fips chassis level 1 and commit.
    • Configure RE boundary fips by setting set systems fips level 1 and commit.

    Device might display the Encrypted-password must be re-configured to use FIPS compliant hash warning to delete the older CSPs in the loaded configuration.

  7. After deleting and reconfiguring CSPs, commit will go through and device needs reboot to enter FIPS mode.
    content_copy zoom_out_map
    [edit]
    crypto-officer@hostname# commit
    Generating RSA key /etc/ssh/fips_ssh_host_key
    Generating RSA2 key /etc/ssh/fips_ssh_host_rsa_key
    Generating ECDSA key /etc/ssh/fips_ssh_host_ecdsa_key
    [edit]
    system
    reboot is required to transition to FIPS level 1
    commit complete
    [edit]
    crypto-officer@hostname# run request vmhost reboot
  8. After rebooting the device, FIPS self-tests will run and device enters FIPS mode.
    content_copy zoom_out_map
    crypto-officer@hostname:fips>
    
footer-navigation