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Cisco Dot1x Disabled

Detects the manual disablement of IEEE 802.1X (dot1x) on a Cisco network device interface. Disabling dot1x bypasses Network Access Control (NAC) mechanisms, potentially allowing unauthorized devices to gain access to the internal network. This activity is a common technique used by attackers or malicious insiders to establish persistence or perform lateral movement via rogue devices.

MITRE ATT&CK

T1685 T1556.004

persistencecredential-access

Detection Query

keywords:
  - access-session port-control force-authorized
  - authentication port-control force-authorized
  - dot1x port-control force-authorized
  - no access-session port-control
  - no authentication port-control
  - no dot1x port-control
  - no dot1x system-auth-control
condition: keywords

Author

Luc Génaux

Created

2026-04-28

Data Sources

ciscoaaa

Platforms

cisco

References

Tags

attack.persistenceattack.credential-accessattack.defense-impairmentattack.t1685attack.t1556.004

Raw Content

title: Cisco Dot1x Disabled
id: ef0ff092-a24a-4fbc-beea-06c08d53e085
status: experimental
description: |
    Detects the manual disablement of IEEE 802.1X (dot1x) on a Cisco network device interface.
    Disabling dot1x bypasses Network Access Control (NAC) mechanisms, potentially allowing unauthorized devices to gain access to the internal network.
    This activity is a common technique used by attackers or malicious insiders to establish persistence or perform lateral movement via rogue devices.
references:
    - https://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios-xml/ios/san/command/san-xe-3se-3850-cr-book_chapter_00.html#wp3394428680 # Modern IOS-XE
    - https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/ios-xml/ios/security/a1/sec-a1-xe-3se-3850-cr-book/sec-a1-xe-3se-3850-cr-book_chapter_010.html#wp3502072400 # Older IOS
    - https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst2960/software/release/12-2_53_se/command/reference/2960ComRef/cli1.html#47220 # Legacy
author: Luc Génaux
date: 2026-04-28
tags:
    - attack.persistence
    - attack.credential-access
    - attack.defense-impairment
    - attack.t1685
    - attack.t1556.004
logsource:
    product: cisco
    service: aaa
detection:
    keywords:
        # xxx port-control force-authorized : disables 802.1X authentication and causes the port to change to the authorized state without any authentication exchange required
        # no xxx port-control : causes the port to fallback to the default setting which is "force-authorized", thereby disabling 802.1X
        - 'access-session port-control force-authorized' # Modern IOS-XE
        - 'authentication port-control force-authorized' # Older IOS
        - 'dot1x port-control force-authorized' # Legacy
        - 'no access-session port-control' # Modern IOS-XE
        - 'no authentication port-control' # Older IOS
        - 'no dot1x port-control' # Legacy
        - 'no dot1x system-auth-control' # disables 802.1X globally
    condition: keywords
falsepositives:
    - Administrator troubleshooting connectivity issues
level: medium
# regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/cisco/aaa/cisco_cli_dot1x_disabled/info.yml