VNX: Qualsys scan flagging QID 38739 - Deprecated SSH Cryptographic Settings (User Correctable)

Summary: VNX: Qualsys scan flagging QID 38739 - Deprecated SSH Cryptographic Settings (User Correctable)

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Symptoms



Qualsys scan picks up the following QID:
QID 38739 - Deprecated SSH Cryptographic Settings

Cause

NA

Resolution

There are a couple possible reasons this QID can flag. There should be specific reasons listed in the scan that should clarify why its coming up.

The first reason that can flag is due to the SSH cipher list. By default on some versions of code older arcfour and blowfish ciphers are in the cipher list. 

How to check and modify the current cipher list:
1. su to root
2. Run this command:
grep -i cipher /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Ciphers aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,arcfour128,arcfour256,arcfour,aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc,aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr
3. vi the file and modify the cipher list in /etc/ssh/sshd_config so only the ctr based ciphers remain.

You should end up with a Cipher line like this:
Ciphers aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr

Or like this if you want to still support cbc based ciphers:
Ciphers aes128-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-cbc,aes256-cbc

4.Save the file, then restart sshd
/sbin/service sshd restart

If the scan calls out an unsupported key exchange algorithm:
Generally the scan will flag this QID on a VNX due to us supporting diffie-helman-group1-sha1 as a key exchange algorithm for SSH. In VNX/VNX2 code we are running older versions of OpenSSH that do not support modifying the key exchange algorithm list  At the current time there is no way to remove diffie-helman-group1-sha1 and there are no plans to upgrade OpenSSH to allow that support (The KexAlgorithms  option does not exist in our OpenSSH version. In newer versions of OpenSSH it can be set in sshd_conf to specify what key exchange algorithms can be used). Diffie-helman-group1-sha1 does not have any known vulnerabilities in SSH currently and the only potential issue is the smaller 1024 bit key size. There is a known vulnerability in TLS regarding  diffie-helman-group1-sha1 ( CVE-2015-4000) but that is already being mitigated in httpd.conf by disabling export ciphers and does not apply to SSH.

At the moment there is no way to disable diffie-helman-group1-sha1 as a key exchange algorithm for SSH and there are no plans to add that functionality. It can be restricted on the client side, but there is no way to disable it on the control station's SSH server.

Additional Information

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https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/PT_KB535545.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/RU_KB535545.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/SV_KB535545.pdf

Affected Products

VNX1 Series

Products

VNX VG10, VNX VG2, VNX VG50, VNX2 Series, VNX5200, VNX5300, VNX5400, VNX5500, VNX5600, VNX5700, VNX5800, VNX7500, VNX7600, VNX8000
Article Properties
Article Number: 000056354
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 25 Apr 2025
Version:  4
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