Understanding Common Criteria and FIPS Terminology and Supported Cryptographic Algorithms

Common Criteria for information technology is an international agreement signed by 28 countries that permits the evaluation of security products against a common set of standards.

For Common Criteria, user accounts in the TOE have the following attributes: user identity (user name), authentication data (password), and role (privilege). The Security Administrator is associated with the defined login class “security-admin”, which has the necessary permission set to permit the administrator to perform all tasks necessary to manage the Junos OS.

Collaborative Protection Profile for Network Devices, version 3.0e, dated 06 December 2023.

Security-related information—for example, secret and private cryptographic keys and authentication data such as passwords and personal identification numbers (PINs)—whose disclosure or modification can compromise the security of a cryptographic module or the information it protects.

The set of hardware, software, and firmware that implements approved security functions (including cryptographic algorithms and key generation) and is contained within the cryptographic boundary. NFX Network Services Platform is certified at FIPS 140-3 Level 1. For fixed-configuration NFX device, the cryptographic module is the NFX device case. For modular NFX device, the cryptographic module is the Routing Engine.

Person with appropriate permissions who is responsible for securely enabling, configuring, monitoring, and maintaining Junos OS in FIPS mode on an NFX device. For details, see Understanding Roles and Services for Junos OS in Common Criteria and FIPS Mode.

Federal Information Processing Standards. FIPS 140-3 specifies requirements for security and cryptographic modules. Junos OS in FIPS mode complies with FIPS 140-3 Level 1.

The role the Crypto Officer assumes to perform physical maintenance or logical maintenance services such as hardware or software diagnostics. For FIPS 140-3 compliance, the Crypto Officer zeroizes the Routing Engine on entry to and exit from the FIPS maintenance role to erase all plain-text secret and private keys and unprotected CSPs.

Known answer tests. System self-tests that validate the output of cryptographic algorithms approved for FIPS and test the integrity of some Junos OS modules. For details, see Understanding FIPS Self-Tests.

A protocol that uses strong authentication and encryption for remote access across a nonsecure network. SSH provides remote login, remote program execution, file copy, and other functions. It is intended as a secure replacement for rlogin, rsh, and rcp in a UNIX environment. To secure the information sent over administrative connections, use SSHv2 for CLI configuration. In Junos OS, SSHv2 is enabled by default, and SSHv1, which is not considered secure, is disabled.

Erasure of all CSPs and other user-created data on an NFX device before its operation as a FIPS cryptographic module—or in preparation for repurposing the NFX device for non-FIPS operation. The Crypto Officer can zeroize the system with a CLI operational command.

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), defined in FIPS PUB 197. The AES algorithm uses keys of 128 (CBC, CTR and GCM), 192 (CBC) or 256 (CBC, CTR and GCM) bits to encrypt and decrypt data in blocks of 128 bits.

Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman. A variant of the Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm that uses cryptography based on the algebraic structure of elliptic curves over finite fields. ECDH allows two parties, each having an elliptic curve public-private key pair, to establish a shared secret over an insecure channel. The shared secret can be used either as a key or to derive another key for encrypting subsequent communications using a symmetric key cipher.

Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm. A variant of the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) that uses cryptography based on the algebraic structure of elliptic curves over finite fields. The bit size of the elliptic curve determines the difficulty of decrypting the key. The public key believed to be needed for ECDSA is about twice the size of the security level, in bits. ECDSA using the P-256, P-384, and P-521 curves can be configured.

Defined as “Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication” in RFC 2104, HMAC combines hashing algorithms with cryptographic keys for message authentication. For Junos OS in FIPS mode, HMAC uses the iterated cryptographic hash functions SHA-1, SHA-256, and SHA-512 along with a secret key.

Secure hash algorithms (SHA) belonging to the SHA-2 standard defined in FIPS PUB 180-2. Developed by NIST, SHA-1 produces a 160-bit hash digest, SHA-256 produces a 256-bit hash digest, and SHA-512 produces a 512-bit hash digest.