The SDN controller must be configured to protect against or limit the effects of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks by rate-limiting control-plane communications.

From SDN Controller Security Requirements Guide

Associated with: CCI-002385

SRG-NET-000362-SDN-000720_rule The SDN controller must be configured to protect against or limit the effects of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks by rate-limiting control-plane communications.

Vulnerability discussion

The SDN Controller is critical to all network operations because it is the component used to build all forwarding paths for the data plane via control-plane processes. It is also instrumental with network management and provisioning functions that keep the SDN-enabled network elements and links available for providing network services. Any disruption to the SDN Controller can result in mission-critical network outages. A DoS attack targeting the SDN Controller can result in excessive CPU and memory utilization. The SDN Controller must be configured to rate-limit control-plane traffic destined to itself to mitigate the risk of a DoS attack and ensure network stability.

Check content

Review the SDN controller configuration to determine if it is configured to rate-limit control-plane messages. If the SDN controller is not configured to rate-limit control-plane messages, this is a finding.

Fix text

Configure the SDN controller to rate-limit control-plane messages.

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