Cisco ASA 5505 Configuration Manual page 687

Chapter 32 Configuring Management Access
Security Contexts and Command Authorization
The following are important points to consider when implementing command authorization with
multiple security contexts:
•
•
The system execution space does not support AAA commands; therefore, command authorization is not
Note
available in the system execution space.
Configuring Local Command Authorization
Local command authorization lets you assign commands to one of 16 privilege levels (0 to 15). By
default, each command is assigned either to privilege level 0 or 15. You can define each user to be at a
specific privilege level, and each user can enter any command at their privilege level or below. The
adaptive security appliance supports user privilege levels defined in the local database, a RADIUS
server, or an LDAP server (if you map LDAP attributes to RADIUS attributes. See the
LDAP Attribute Maps" section on page
This section includes the following topics:
•
OL-20339-01
AAA settings are discrete per context, not shared between contexts.
When configuring command authorization, you must configure each security context separately.
This provides you the opportunity to enforce different command authorizations for different security
contexts.
When switching between security contexts, administrators should be aware that the commands
permitted for the username specified when they login may be different in the new context session or
that command authorization may not be configured at all in the new context. Failure to understand
that command authorizations may differ between security contexts could confuse an administrator.
This behavior is further complicated by the next point.
New context sessions started with the changeto command always use the default "enable_15"
username as the administrator identity, regardless of what username was used in the previous context
session. This behavior can lead to confusion if command authorization is not configured for the
enable_15 user or if authorizations are different for the enable_15 user than for the user in the
previous context session.
This behavior also affects command accounting, which is useful only if you can accurately associate
each command that is issued with a particular administrator. Because all administrators with
permission to use the changeto command can use the enable_15 username in other contexts,
command accounting records may not readily identify who was logged in as the enable_15
username. If you use different accounting servers for each context, tracking who was using the
enable_15 username requires correlating the data from several servers.
When configuring command authorization, consider the following:
An administrator with permission to use the changeto command effectively has permission to
–
use all commands permitted to the enable_15 user in each of the other contexts.
– If you intend to authorize commands differently per context, ensure that in each context the
enable_15 username is denied use of commands that are also denied to administrators who are
permitted use of the changeto command.
When switching between security contexts, administrators can exit privileged EXEC mode and enter
the enable command again to use the username they need.
Local Command Authorization Prerequisites, page 32-16
Configuring AAA for System Administrators
31-22.)
Cisco ASA 5500 Series Configuration Guide using ASDM
"Configuring
32-15