National Information Assurance Partnership
Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme
Validation Report
Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with
FMC/FMCv
Report Number: CCEVS-VR-VID11510-2025
Dated: March 18, 2025
Version: 0.1
National Institute of Standards and Technology Department of Defense
Information Technology Laboratory ATTN: NIAP, Suite 6982
100 Bureau Drive 9800 Savage Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20899 Fort Meade, MD 20755-6982
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Validation Team
Jerome Myers, Ph.D.
J David Thomson
Seada Mohammed
The Aerospace Corporation
Common Criteria Testing Laboratory
Douglas Kalmus
Linh Le
Gossamer Security Solutions, Inc.
Columbia, MD
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Table of Contents
1 Executive Summary.................................................................................................... 1
2 Identification............................................................................................................... 2
3 Architectural Information ........................................................................................... 3
3.1 TOE Description................................................................................................. 3
3.2 TOE Evaluated Platforms ................................................................................... 4
3.3 TOE Architecture................................................................................................ 4
3.4 Physical Boundaries............................................................................................ 5
4 Security Policy............................................................................................................ 6
4.1 Security audit ...................................................................................................... 6
4.2 Communication................................................................................................... 6
4.3 Cryptographic support ........................................................................................ 6
4.4 User data protection............................................................................................ 7
4.5 Identification and authentication......................................................................... 7
4.6 Security management.......................................................................................... 7
4.7 Protection of the TSF.......................................................................................... 8
4.8 TOE access.......................................................................................................... 8
4.9 Trusted path/channels ......................................................................................... 8
4.10 Filtering............................................................................................................... 9
4.11 Intrusion Prevention System............................................................................... 9
5 Assumptions & Clarification of Scope ..................................................................... 10
6 Documentation.......................................................................................................... 12
7 IT Product Testing .................................................................................................... 12
7.1 Developer Testing............................................................................................. 12
7.2 Evaluation Team Independent Testing ............................................................. 12
8 Evaluated Configuration........................................................................................... 13
9 Results of the Evaluation .......................................................................................... 13
9.1 Evaluation of the Security Target (ASE).......................................................... 13
9.2 Evaluation of the Development (ADV) ............................................................ 13
9.3 Evaluation of the Guidance Documents (AGD)............................................... 14
9.4 Evaluation of the Life Cycle Support Activities (ALC) ................................... 14
9.5 Evaluation of the Test Documentation and the Test Activity (ATE) ............... 14
9.6 Vulnerability Assessment Activity (VAN)....................................................... 14
9.7 Summary of Evaluation Results........................................................................ 15
10 Validator Comments/Recommendations .................................................................. 15
11 Annexes..................................................................................................................... 15
12 Security Target.......................................................................................................... 16
13 Glossary .................................................................................................................... 16
14 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 16
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1 Executive Summary
This report documents the assessment of the National Information Assurance Partnership
(NIAP) validation team of the evaluation of Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual
7.4 with FMC/FMCv solution provided by Cisco Systems, Inc. It presents the evaluation
results, their justifications, and the conformance results. This Validation Report is not an
endorsement of the Target of Evaluation by any agency of the U.S. government, and no
warranty is either expressed or implied.
The evaluation was performed by the Gossamer Security Solutions (Gossamer) Common
Criteria Testing Laboratory (CCTL) in Columbia, MD, United States of America, and was
completed in March 2025. The information in this report is largely derived from the
Evaluation Technical Report (ETR) and associated test reports, all written by Gossamer
Security Solutions. The evaluation determined that the product is both Common Criteria Part
2 Extended and Part 3 Conformant, and meets the assurance requirements of the PP-
Configuration for Network Devices, Intrusion Prevention Systems, Stateful Traffic Filter
Firewalls, and Virtual Private Network Gateways, Version 1.2, 18 August 2023
(CFG_NDcPP-IPS-FW-VPNGW_v1.2) which includes the Base PP: collaborative
Protection Profile for Network Devices, Version 2.2e, 23 March 2020 (NDcPP22e) with the
PP-Module for Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), 1.0, 11 May 2021 (IPS10), the PP-
Module for Stateful Traffic Filter Firewalls, Version 1.4 + Errata 20200625, 25 June 2020
(STFFW14e), and the PP-Module for VPN Gateways, Version 1.3, 25 August 2023
(VPNGW13).
The Target of Evaluation (TOE) is the Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with
FMC/FMCv.
The Target of Evaluation (TOE) identified in this Validation Report has been evaluated at a
NIAP approved Common Criteria Testing Laboratory using the Common Methodology for
IT Security Evaluation (Version 3.1, Rev 5) for conformance to the Common Criteria for IT
Security Evaluation (Version 3.1, Rev 5). This Validation Report applies only to the specific
version of the TOE as evaluated. The evaluation has been conducted in accordance with the
provisions of the NIAP Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme and the
conclusions of the testing laboratory in the evaluation technical report are consistent with the
evidence provided.
The validation team monitored the activities of the evaluation team, provided guidance on
technical issues and evaluation processes, and reviewed the individual work units and
successive versions of the ETR. The validation team found that the evaluation showed that
the product satisfies all of the functional requirements and assurance requirements stated in
the Security Target (ST). Therefore the validation team concludes that the testing
laboratory’s findings are accurate, the conclusions justified, and the conformance results are
correct. The conclusions of the testing laboratory in the evaluation technical report are
consistent with the evidence produced.
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The technical information included in this report was obtained from the Cisco Secure
Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with FMC/FMCv Security Target, version 1.0, March
12, 2025 and analysis performed by the Validation Team.
2 Identification
The CCEVS is a joint National Security Agency (NSA) and National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) effort to establish commercial facilities to perform trusted product
evaluations. Under this program, security evaluations are conducted by commercial testing
laboratories called Common Criteria Testing Laboratories (CCTLs) using the Common
Evaluation Methodology (CEM) in accordance with National Voluntary Laboratory
Assessment Program (NVLAP) accreditation.
The NIAP Validation Body assigns Validators to monitor the CCTLs to ensure quality and
consistency across evaluations. Developers of information technology products desiring a
security evaluation contract with a CCTL and pay a fee for their product’s evaluation. Upon
successful completion of the evaluation, the product is added to NIAP’s Validated Products
List.
Table 1 provides information needed to completely identify the product, including:
• The Target of Evaluation (TOE): the fully qualified identifier of the product as evaluated.
• The Security Target (ST), describing the security features, claims, and assurances of the
product.
• The conformance result of the evaluation.
• The Protection Profile to which the product is conformant.
• The organizations and individuals participating in the evaluation.
Table 1: Evaluation Identifiers
Item Identifier
Evaluation
Scheme
United States NIAP Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation
Scheme
TOE Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with FMC/FMCv
(Specific models identified in Section 8)
Protection Profile PP-Configuration for Network Devices, Intrusion Prevention
Systems, Stateful Traffic Filter Firewalls, and Virtual Private
Network Gateways, Version 1.2, 18 August 2023 (CFG_NDcPP-
IPS-FW-VPNGW_v1.2) which includes the Base PP: collaborative
Protection Profile for Network Devices, Version 2.2e, 23 March
2020 (NDcPP22e) with the PP-Module for Intrusion Prevention
Systems (IPS), 1.0, 11 May 2021 (IPS10), the PP-Module for
Stateful Traffic Filter Firewalls, Version 1.4 + Errata 20200625, 25
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Item Identifier
June 2020 (STFFW14e), and the PP-Module for VPN Gateways,
Version 1.3, 25 August 2023 (VPNGW13)
ST Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with FMC/FMCv
Security Target, version 1.0, March 12, 2025
Evaluation
Technical Report
Evaluation Technical Report for Cisco Secure Firewall Threat
Defense Virtual 7.4 with FMC/FMCv, version 0.2, March 13, 2025
CC Version Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation,
Version 3.1, rev 5
Conformance
Result
CC Part 2 extended, CC Part 3 conformant
Sponsor Cisco Systems, Inc.
Developer Cisco Systems, Inc.
Common Criteria
Testing Lab
(CCTL)
Gossamer Security Solutions, Inc.
Columbia, MD
CCEVS
Validators
Jerome Myers, Ph.D., J David Thomson, Seada Mohammed
3 Architectural Information
Note: The following architectural description is based on the description presented in the
Security Target.
The Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 running on UCS appliances are
firewall platforms with VPN and IPS capabilities provided by Firepower Threat Defense
(FTD) software. The TOE includes one or more Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense
Virtual 7.4 appliances (running FTD software) that are centrally managed by a Firewall
Management Center (FMC) appliance. The FMC physical and virtual appliances provide a
centralized management console and event database for Cisco Secure Firewall Threat
Defense Virtual, and aggregates and correlates intrusion, discovery, and connection data
from the Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual. In this deployment, the Cisco Secure
Firewall Threat Defense Virtual provides VPN, firewall filtering, network analysis, intrusion
detection and access control functionalities. The FMC and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat
Defense Virtual (running FTD) appliances form the TOE (Distributed TOE Use Case 3).
3.1 TOE Description
The TOE is comprised of both software and hardware. The TOE appliances are comprised
of the following: Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual Appliance and Firepower
Management Center (FMC1600, FMC2600, FMC4600, FMC1700, FMC2700, FMC4700
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and FMCv). The software is comprised of the FTD software image Release 7.4 and FMC (or
FMCv) version 7.4.
The models that comprise the TOE have common hardware characteristics. These differing
characteristics affect only non-TSF relevant functionality (such as throughput, processing
speed, number and type of network connections supported, number of concurrent
connections supported, and amount of storage) and therefore support security equivalency of
the FTDs in terms of hardware.
The Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual Appliance brings Cisco's Next-Generation
Firewall and Next-Generation Intrusion Prevention functionalities to virtualized
environments, enabling security policies to follow workloads across physical, virtual, and
cloud environments, and between clouds. Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual
Appliance functions within a VMware ESXi environment, including feature support, system
requirements, guidelines, and limitations.
The underlying UCS platforms, that are a part of the TOE, have many common hardware
characteristics. The only differing characteristics affect only non-TSF relevant functionality
(such as throughput, processing speed, number and type of network connections supported,
number of concurrent connections supported, and amount of storage) and therefore support
security equivalency of the Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual Appliance in terms
of hardware.
The underlying Cisco UCS hardware platforms within the TOE have common hardware
characteristics. These differing characteristics affect only non-TSF relevant functionality
(such as throughput, processing speed, number and type of network connections supported,
number of concurrent connections supported, and amount of storage) and therefore support
security equivalency of the FMCv in terms of hardware.
3.2 TOE Evaluated Platforms
Detail regarding the evaluated configuration is provided in Section 8 below.
3.3 TOE Architecture
The TOE consists of hardware and software that provide connectivity and security services.
For firewall service, the TOE provides application-aware stateful packet filtering firewalls.
A stateful packet filtering firewall controls the flow of IP traffic by matching information
contained in the headers of connection-oriented or connection-less IP packets against a set
of rules specified by the authorized administrator for firewalls. This header information
includes source and destination host (IP) addresses, source and destination port numbers, and
the transport service application protocol (TSAP) held within the data field of the IP packet.
Depending upon the rule and the results of the match, the firewall either passes or drops the
packet. The stateful firewall remembers the state of the connection from information gleaned
from prior packets flowing on the connection and uses it to regulate current packets. The
packet will be denied if the security policy is violated.
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In addition to IP header information, the TOE mediates information flows on the basis of
other information, such as the direction (incoming or outgoing) of the packet on any given
firewall network interface. For connection-oriented transport services, the firewall either
permits connections and subsequent packets for the connection or denies the connection and
subsequent packets associated with the connection.
The application-inspection capabilities automate the network to treat traffic according to
detailed policies based not only on port, state, and addressing information, but also on
application information buried deep within the packet header. By comparing this deep-packet
inspection information with corporate policies, the firewall will allow or block certain traffic.
For example, it will automatically drop application traffic attempting to gain entry to the
network through an open port-even if it appears to be legitimate at the user and connection
levels-if a business's corporate policy prohibits that application type from being on the
network.
The TOE provides intrusion prevention system (IPS) capabilities by combining the security
of a Next Generation IPS (NGIPS) with the power of access control, malware protection, and
URL/IP filtering (Block List/Do Not Block List) known as Security Intelligence. The TOE
monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic and performs real-time traffic analysis and
logging using the industry-leading Snort® engine. All packets on the monitored network are
scanned, decoded, preprocessed and compared against a set of rules to determine whether
inappropriate traffic, such as system attacks, is being sent over the network. The system
generates alerts or blocks the traffic when deviations of the expected network behavior are
detected or when there is a match to a known attack pattern.
3.4 Physical Boundaries
The TOE consists of at least one virtual device running FTD software and one or more
physical FMC devices running the FMC software or virtual devices running FMCv software
as specified in Section 1.5 below. Each instantiation of the TOE has two or more network
interfaces and can filter IP traffic to and through those interfaces.
If the TOE is to be remotely administered, the management station must connect using
SSHv2. When the Web UI is used, a remote workstation with a TLS-enabled browser must
be available. A syslog server can also be used to store audit records, and the syslog server
must support syslog over TLS or IPsec.
FTD supports two different TLS clients that send syslog messages to the external syslog
server- FTD TLS client and FTD OS TLS Client. The FTD TLS Client is configured by the
FMC and is the main audit system for audits generated by FTD. It sends audit events such
as IPsec and login messages to the external syslog server. The FTD OS TLS client
implementation is configured through the FTD’s command line and sends audit events such
as SSH login, console login, etc. to an external syslog server.
The TOE can filter connections to/from these external entities using its IP traffic filtering,
and can encrypt traffic where necessary using TLS, SSH, and/or IPsec. The TOE uses
X.509v3 certificates to support authentication for both IPsec and TLS, and the CA server in
the Operational environment can be used to obtain digital certificates.
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The communication between the FMC software and FTD running in the Cisco Secure
Firewall Threat Defense Virtual appliance is protected by TLSv1.2. Digital certificates from
a CA server are obtained when certificates are used as the authentication method for VPN
connection. The TOE protects peer-to-peer VPN connections between itself and VPN peers
(connections can be initiated by the TOE or by the peer) using IPsec.
4 Security Policy
This section summaries the security functionality of the TOE:
1. Security audit
2. Communication
3. Cryptographic support
4. User data protection
5. Identification and authentication
6. Security management
7. Protection of the TSF
8. TOE access
9. Trusted path/channels
10. Filtering
11. Intrusion PreventionSystem
4.1 Security audit
The TOE provides extensive auditing capabilities. The TOE can audit events related to
cryptographic functionality, identification and authentication, and administrative actions.
The TOE generates an audit record for each auditable event. The administrator configures
auditable events, performs back-up operations, and manages audit data storage. The TOE
provides the administrator with a circular audit trail where the TOE overwrites the oldest
audit record with the newest audit record when space is full. Audit logs are backed up over
an encrypted channel to an external audit server.
4.2 Communication
The TOE allows authorized administrators to control which Cisco Secure Firewall Threat
Defense Virtual Appliance is managed by the FMC. This is performed through a registration
process over TLS. The administrator can also de-register a Cisco Secure Firewall Threat
Defense Virtual Appliance if he or she wish to no longer manage it through the FMC.
4.3 Cryptographic support
The TOE provides cryptography in support of other TOE security functionality. The TOE
provides cryptography in support of secure connections using IPsec and TLS, and remote
administrative management via SSHv2 and TLS/HTTPS. The cryptographic random bit
generators (RBGs) are seeded by an entropy noise source.
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4.4 User data protection
The TOE ensures that all information flows from the TOE do not contain residual
information from previous traffic. Packets are padded with zeros. Residual data is never
transmitted from the TOE.
4.5 Identification and authentication
The TOE performs two types of authentication: device-level authentication of the remote
device (VPN peers) and user authentication for the authorized administrator of the TOE or
for IPsec VPN clients. Device-level authentication allows the TOE to establish a secure
channel with a trusted peer. The secure channel is established only after each device
authenticates the other. Device-level authentication is performed via IKE/IPsec X509v3
certificate-based authentication while user-level authentication from IPsec VPN clients uses
certificate-based authentication (all IPsec VPN sessions are terminated at the FTD, not the
FMC/FMCv).
The TOE provides authentication services for administrative users wishing to connect to the
TOEs secure CLI and GUI administrator interfaces. The TOE requires authorized
administrators to authenticate prior to being granted access to any of the management
functionality. The TOE can be configured to require a minimum password length of 15
characters as well as mandatory password complexity rules. The TOE also implements a
lockout mechanism when the number of unsuccessful authentication attempts exceeds the
configured threshold.
The TOE provides administrator authentication against a local user database. Password-
based authentication can be performed on the serial console or SSH and HTTPS interfaces.
The SSHv2 interface also supports authentication using SSH keys.
4.6 Security management
The TOE provides secure administrative services for management of general TOE
configuration and the security functionality provided by the TOE. All TOE administration
occurs either through a secure SSHv2 or TLS/HTTPS session, or via a local console
connection. Optionally, the FTD component also supports tunneling the SSH connections in
IPsec VPN tunnels (peer-to-peer, or remote VPN client). Management of all security
functions can be performed via the FMC component of the TOE, while a subset of
management functions can be performed on the FTD component. The TOE provides the
ability to securely manage all TOE administrative users; all identification and authentication;
all audit functionality of the TOE; all TOE cryptographic functionality; the timestamps
maintained by the TOE; and the information flow control policies enforced by the TOE
including encryption/decryption of information flows for VPNs. The TOE supports an
“authorized administrator” role, which equates to any account authenticated to an
administrative interface (CLI or GUI, but not VPN), and possessing sufficient privileges to
perform security-relevant administrative actions.
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When an administrative session is initially established, the TOE displays an administrator-
configurable warning banner. This is used to provide any information deemed necessary by
the administrator. After a configurable period of inactivity, administrative sessions will be
terminated, requiring administrators to re-authenticate.
4.7 Protection of the TSF
The TOE protects against interference and tampering by untrusted subjects by implementing
identification, authentication, and administrator roles to limit configuration to authorized
administrators. The TOE prevents reading of cryptographic keys and passwords.
Additionally, the TOE is not a general-purpose operating system and access to the TOE
memory space is restricted to only TOE functions.
The TOE internally maintains the date and time. This date and time are used as the timestamp
that is applied to audit records generated by the TOE. Administrators can update the TOE’s
clock manually via FMC or can configure the TOE to use NTP to synchronize the TOE’s
clock with an external time source. Additionally, the TOE performs testing to verify correct
operation of the appliance itself and that of the cryptographic module. Whenever any system
failures occur within the TOE the TOE will cease operation.
The TOE provides the ability to manually upgrade firmware/software for security
administrators. Administrators can query the current executing version of the TOE’s
firmware/software and the most recently installed version via the FMC Web UI.
4.8 TOE access
When an administrative session is initially established, the TOE displays an administrator-
configurable warning banner. This is used to provide any information deemed necessary by
the administrator. After a configurable period of inactivity, administrator and VPN client
sessions will be terminated, requiring re-authentication. The TOE also supports direct
connections from VPN clients and protects against threats related to those client connections.
The TOE disconnects sessions that have been idle too long and can be configured to deny
sessions based on IP, time, and day, and to NAT external IPs of connecting VPN clients to
internal network addresses.
4.9 Trusted path/channels
The TOE supports establishing trusted paths between itself and remote administrators using
SSHv2 for CLI access on the FTD and FMC and TLS/HTTPS for web UI access on the
FMC. The TOE supports use of TLS and/or IPsec for connections with remote syslog servers.
The TOE can establish trusted paths of peer-to-peer VPN tunnels using IPsec, and VPN client
tunnels using IPsec. Note that the VPN client is in the operational environment.
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4.10 Filtering
The TOE provides stateful traffic firewall functionality including IP address-based filtering
(for IPv4 and IPv6) to address the issues associated with unauthorized disclosure of
information, inappropriate access to services, misuse of services, disruption or denial of
services, and network-based reconnaissance. Address filtering can be configured to restrict
the flow of network traffic between protected networks and other attached networks based
on source and/or destination IP addresses. Port filtering can be configured to restrict the flow
of network traffic between protected networks and other attached networks based on the
originating (source) and/or receiving (destination) port (service). Stateful packet inspection
is used to aid in the performance of packet flow through the TOE and to ensure that only
packets are only forwarded when they’re part of a properly established session. The TOE
supports protocols that can spawn additional sessions in accordance with the protocol RFCs
where a new connection will be implicitly permitted when properly initiated by an explicitly
permitted session. The File Transfer Protocol is an example of such a protocol, where a data
connection is created as needed in response to an explicitly allowed command connection.
System monitoring functionality includes the ability to generate audit messages for any
explicitly defined (permitted or denied) traffic flow. TOE administrators have the ability to
configure permitted and denied traffic flows, including adjusting the sequence in which flow
control rules will be applied, and to apply rules to any network interface of the TOE.
The TOE also provides packet filtering and secure IPsec tunneling. The tunnels can be
established between two trusted VPN peers as well as between remote VPN clients and the
TOE. More accurately, these tunnels are sets of security associations (SAs). The SAs define
the protocols and algorithms to be applied to sensitive packets and specify the keying
material to be used. SAs are unidirectional and are established per the ESP security protocol.
An authorized administrator can define the traffic that needs to be protected via IPsec by
configuring access lists (permit, deny, log) and applying these access lists to interfaces using
VPN policies.
4.11 Intrusion Prevention System
The TOE provides intrusion policies consisting of rules and configurations invoked by the
access control policy. The intrusion policies are the last line of defense before the traffic is
allowed to its destination. All traffic permitted by the access control policy is then inspected
by the designated intrusion policy. Using intrusion rules and other preprocessor settings,
these policies inspect traffic for security violations and, in inline deployments, can block or
alter malicious traffic.
If the vendor-provided intrusion policies do not fully address the security needs of the
organization, custom policies can improve the performance of the system in the environment
and can provide a focused view of the malicious traffic and policy violations occurring on
the network. By creating and tuning custom policies, the administrators can configure, at a
very granular level, how the system processes and inspects the traffic on the network for
intrusions.
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Using Security Intelligence, the administrators can blocklist—deny traffic to and from—
specific IP addresses, URLs, and DNS domain names, before the traffic is subjected to
analysis by the access control rules. Optionally, the administrators can use a “monitor-only”
setting for Security Intelligence filtering.
5 Assumptions & Clarification of Scope
Assumptions
The Security Problem Definition, including the assumptions, may be found in the following
documents:
• collaborative Protection Profile for Network Devices, Version 2.2e, 23 March 2020
(NDcPP22e)
• PP-Module for Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), 1.0, 11 May 2021 (IPS10)
• PP-Module for Stateful Traffic Filter Firewalls, Version 1.4 + Errata 20200625, 25
June 2020 (STFFW14e)
• PP-Module for VPN Gateways, Version 1.3, 25 August 2023 (VPNGW13)
That information has not been reproduced here and the NDcPP22e/IPS10/STFFW14e/
VPNGW13 should be consulted if there is interest in that material.
The scope of this evaluation was limited to the functionality and assurances covered in the
NDcPP22e/IPS10/STFFW14e/VPNGW13 as described for this TOE in the Security Target.
Other functionality included in the product was not assessed as part of this evaluation. All
other functionality provided by the devices needs to be assessed separately, and no further
conclusions can be drawn about their effectiveness.
Clarification of scope
All evaluations (and all products) have limitations, as well as potential misconceptions that
need clarification. This text covers some of the more important limitations and clarifications
of this evaluation. Note that:
• As with any evaluation, this evaluation only shows that the evaluated configuration
meets the security claims made with a certain level of assurance (the assurance
activities specified in the collaborative Protection Profile for Network Devices and
the Intrusion Prevention, Firewalls, and VPN Gateways Modules and performed by
the evaluation team).
• This evaluation covers only the specific device models and software as identified in
this document, and not any earlier or later versions released or in process.
• Apart from the Admin Guide, additional customer documentation for the specific
Firewall, VPN Gateway, Router, Intrusion Prevention Systems models was not
included in the scope of the evaluation and therefore should not to be relied upon
when configuring or operating the device as evaluated.
• This evaluation did not specifically search for, nor attempt to exploit, vulnerabilities
that were not “obvious” or vulnerabilities to objectives not claimed in the ST. The
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CEM defines an “obvious” vulnerability as one that is easily exploited with a
minimum of understanding of the TOE, technical sophistication and resources.
• The functionality evaluated is scoped exclusively to the security functional
requirements specified in the NDcPP22e/IPS10/STFFW14e/VPNGW13 and
applicable Technical Decisions. Any additional security related functional
capabilities of the TOE were not covered by this evaluation.
• The following functionality are excluded from evaluation.
Excluded Functionality Exclusion Rationale
Telnet for management purposes Telnet passes authentication credentials in
clear text and is disabled by default.
Firepower Device Manager (FDM) Firepower Device Manager is a web-based
local manager. Use of FDM is beyond the
scope of this Common Criteria evaluation.
Filtering of non-IP traffic provided by
the EtherType option when configuring
information flow policies is excluded
from the evaluated configuration.
Use of non-IP traffic filtering is beyond the
scope of this Common Criteria evaluation.
Smart Call Home. The Smart Call
Home feature provides personalized, e-
mail-based and web-based notification
to customers about critical events
involving their individual systems.
Use of Smart Call Home is beyond the scope
of this Common Criteria evaluation.
Root Shell Access The root shell access is only allowed for pre-
operational installation, configuration, and
post-operational maintenance and troubling
shooting.
Timeout Exemption Option The use of the “Exempt from Browser Session
Timeout” setting is not permitted. This allows
a user to be exempted from the inactivity
timeout feature.
REST API This feature is not evaluated as part of the
evaluation. REST API relies on HTTPS as the
underlying communication protocol and can
be used to build a management interface. This
feature is not tested and is out of scope.
Clustering This feature is not tested and is out of scope.
The services in the table above are disabled in the evaluated configuration. Any
functionality of the TOE that has not been discussed in Section 6 of the ST is not included
in the evaluation. The exclusion of this functionality does not affect compliance to
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collaborative Protection Profile for Network Devices (cpp_nd_v2.2e), PP-Module for
Stateful Traffic Filter Firewalls (mod_cpp_fw_v1.4e), PP-Module for Virtual Private
Network (VPN) Gateways (mod_vpngw_v1.3) and PP-Module for Intrusion Protection
Systems (IPS), Version 1.0 (MOD_IPS_V1.0)
6 Documentation
The following documents were available with the TOE for evaluation:
• Cisco FTD v7.4 with FMC/FMCv Common Criteria Supplemental User Guide,
Version 1.1, February 3, 2025
• Cisco FTD v7.4 with FMC/FMCv Common Criteria User Guide Supplement IPS &
VPN Functionality, Version 0.4, November 22, 2024
Any additional customer documentation provided with the product, or that is available
online was not included in the scope of the evaluation and therefore should not to be relied
upon when configuring or operating the device as evaluated.
To use the product in the evaluated configuration, the product must be configured as
specified in the Guidance Documentation listed above. Consumers are encouraged to
download the configuration guides from the NIAP website to ensure the device is
configured as evaluated.
7 IT Product Testing
This section describes the testing efforts of the developer and the Evaluation Team. It is
derived from information contained in the proprietary Detailed Test Report for Cisco Secure
Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with FMC/FMCv, Version 0.2, March 13, 2025 (DTR),
as summarized in the evaluation Assurance Activity Report (AAR).
7.1 Developer Testing
No evidence of developer testing is required in the assurance activities for this product.
7.2 Evaluation Team Independent Testing
The evaluation team verified the product according to a Common Criteria Certification
document and ran the tests specified in the NDcPP22e/IPS10/STFFW14e/VPNGW13
including the tests associated with optional requirements. The AAR, in sections 1.1 lists the
tested devices, provides a list of test tools, and has diagrams of the test environment.
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8 Evaluated Configuration
The evaluated configuration consists of the following hardware models running software
versions: Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) 7.4, Firepower Management Center (FMC) 7.4
and Firepower Management Center Virtual (FMCv) 7.4.
• Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC) (FMC1600, FMC2600, FMC4600,
FMC1700 and FMC4700)
• Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Virtual (FTDv) and Cisco Firepower Management
Center Virtual (FMCv) running on ESXi 7.0 on the Unified Computing System
(UCS) UCSC-C220-M5, UCSC-C240-M5, UCSC-C480-M5, UCSC-C220-M6,
UCSC-C225-M6, UCSC-C240-M6, UCSC-C220-M7, UCSC-C240-M7and UCS-
E1100D-M6
9 Results of the Evaluation
The results of the assurance requirements are generally described in this section and are
presented in detail in the proprietary ETR. The reader of this document can assume that all
assurance activities and work units received a passing verdict.
A verdict for an assurance component is determined by the resulting verdicts assigned to the
corresponding evaluator action elements. The evaluation was conducted based upon CC
version 3.1 rev 5 and CEM version 3.1 rev 5. The evaluation determined the Cisco Secure
Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with FMC/FMCv TOE to be Part 2 extended, and to
meet the SARs contained in the NDcPP22e/IPS10/STFFW14e/VPNGW13.
9.1 Evaluation of the Security Target (ASE)
The evaluation team applied each ASE CEM work unit. The ST evaluation ensured the ST
contains a description of the environment in terms of policies and assumptions, a statement
of security requirements claimed to be met by the Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense
Virtual 7.4 with FMC/FMCv products that are consistent with the Common Criteria, and
product security function descriptions that support the requirements.
The validator reviewed the work of the evaluation team, and found that sufficient evidence
and justification was provided by the evaluation team to confirm that the evaluation was
conducted in accordance with the requirements of the CEM, and that the conclusion reached
by the evaluation team was justified.
9.2 Evaluation of the Development (ADV)
The evaluation team applied each ADV CEM work unit. The evaluation team assessed the
design documentation and found it adequate to aid in understanding how the TSF provides
the security functions. The design documentation consists of a functional specification
contained in the Security Target and Guidance documents. Additionally the evaluator
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performed the assurance activities specified in the NDcPP22e/IPS10/STFFW14e/
VPNGW13 related to the examination of the information contained in the TSS.
The validator reviewed the work of the evaluation team, and found that sufficient evidence
and justification was provided by the evaluation team to confirm that the evaluation was
conducted in accordance with the requirements of the CEM, and that the conclusion reached
by the evaluation team was justified.
9.3 Evaluation of the Guidance Documents (AGD)
The evaluation team applied each AGD CEM work unit. The evaluation team ensured the
adequacy of the user guidance in describing how to use the operational TOE. Additionally,
the evaluation team ensured the adequacy of the administrator guidance in describing how
to securely administer the TOE. All of the guides were assessed during the design and testing
phases of the evaluation to ensure they were complete.
The validator reviewed the work of the evaluation team, and found that sufficient evidence
and justification was provided by the evaluation team to confirm that the evaluation was
conducted in accordance with the requirements of the CEM, and that the conclusion reached
by the evaluation team was justified.
9.4 Evaluation of the Life Cycle Support Activities (ALC)
The evaluation team applied each ALC CEM work unit. The evaluation team found that the
TOE was identified.
The validator reviewed the work of the evaluation team, and found that sufficient evidence
and justification was provided by the evaluation team to confirm that the evaluation was
conducted in accordance with the requirements of the CEM, and that the conclusion reached
by the evaluation team was justified.
9.5 Evaluation of the Test Documentation and the Test Activity (ATE)
The evaluation team applied each ATE CEM work unit. The evaluation team ran the set of
tests specified by the assurance activities in the NDcPP22e/IPS10/STFFW14e/VPNGW13
and recorded the results in a Test Report, summarized in the AAR.
The validator reviewed the work of the evaluation team, and found that sufficient evidence
and justification was provided by the evaluation team to confirm that the evaluation was
conducted in accordance with the requirements of the CEM, and that the conclusion reached
by the evaluation team was justified.
9.6 Vulnerability Assessment Activity (VAN)
The evaluation team applied each AVA CEM work unit. The vulnerability analysis is in the
Detailed Test Report (DTR) prepared by the evaluator. The vulnerability analysis includes
a public search for vulnerabilities. The public search for vulnerabilities did not uncover any
residual vulnerability.
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The evaluator searched the National Vulnerability Database
(https://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search) and Vulnerability Notes Database
(http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/) with the following search terms: “ftd 7.4”, “FXOS 2.14”,
“Firepower threat defense”, “Firepower management center”, “cisco ssl fom”, “Virtual fmc
fom”, “Cisco Security Crypto”, “Openssh”, “CiscoSSH”, “CiscoSSL”, “Snort”, “ESXi
7.0”, “Intel Pentium”, “Intel Xeon Bronze”, “Intel Xeon Silver”, “Intel Xeon Gold”, “Intel
Xeon Platinum”, “Intel Xeon D”, “AMD EPYC”, and “Firepower Threat Defense Virtual”.
The vulnerability search was conducted on 03/13/2025. Further details of the vulnerability
analysis performed by the evaluators are recorded in the proprietary DTR.
The validator reviewed the work of the evaluation team and found that sufficient evidence
and justification was provided by the evaluation team to confirm that the evaluation was
conducted in accordance with the requirements of the CEM, and that the conclusion reached
by the evaluation team was justified.
9.7 Summary of Evaluation Results
The evaluation team’s assessment of the evaluation evidence demonstrates that the claims in
the ST are met. Additionally, the evaluation team’s testing also demonstrated the accuracy
of the claims in the ST.
The validation team’s assessment of the evidence provided by the evaluation team is that it
demonstrates that the evaluation team followed the procedures defined in the CEM, and
correctly verified that the product meets the claims in the ST.
10 Validator Comments/Recommendations
The validation team notes that the evaluated configuration is dependent upon the TOE being
configured per the evaluated configuration instructions in the Cisco FTD v7.4 with
FMC/FMCv Common Criteria Supplemental User Guide, Version 1.1, February 3, 2025, and
Cisco FTD v7.4 with FMC/FMCv Common Criteria User Guide Supplement IPS & VPN
Functionality, Version 0.4, November 22, 2024.
No versions of the TOE and software, either earlier or later are covered by the scope of this
evaluation. The scope of this evaluation was limited to the functionality and assurances
covered in the NDcPP22e/STFFW14e/IPS10/VPNGW13 as described for this TOE in the
Security Target.
Other functionality included in the product was not assessed as part of this evaluation. All
other functionality provided by the devices needs to be assessed separately, and no further
conclusions can be drawn about their effectiveness. The excluded functionality is specified
in section 5 of this report. All other items and scope issues have been sufficiently addressed
elsewhere in this document.
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11 Annexes
Not applicable
12 Security Target
The Security Target is identified as: Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with
FMC/FMCv Security Target, Version 1.0, March 12, 2025.
13 Glossary
The following definitions are used throughout this document:
• Common Criteria Testing Laboratory (CCTL). An IT security evaluation facility
accredited by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) and
approved by the CCEVS Validation Body to conduct Common Criteria-based
evaluations.
• Conformance. The ability to demonstrate in an unambiguous way that a given
implementation is correct with respect to the formal model.
• Evaluation. The assessment of an IT product against the Common Criteria using the
Common Criteria Evaluation Methodology to determine whether or not the claims made
are justified; or the assessment of a protection profile against the Common Criteria using
the Common Evaluation Methodology to determine if the Profile is complete, consistent,
technically sound and hence suitable for use as a statement of requirements for one or
more TOEs that may be evaluated.
• Evaluation Evidence. Any tangible resource (information) required from the sponsor or
developer by the evaluator to perform one or more evaluation activities.
• Feature. Part of a product that is either included with the product or can be ordered
separately.
• Target of Evaluation (TOE). A group of IT products configured as an IT system, or an
IT product, and associated documentation that is the subject of a security evaluation
under the CC.
• Validation. The process carried out by the CCEVS Validation Body leading to the issue
of a Common Criteria certificate.
• Validation Body. A governmental organization responsible for carrying out validation
and for overseeing the day-to-day operation of the NIAP Common Criteria Evaluation
and Validation Scheme.
14 Bibliography
The Validation Team used the following documents to produce this Validation Report:
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[1] Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation: Part 1:
Introduction and General Model, Version 3.1, Revision 5, April 2017.
[2] Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation Part 2: Security
functional components, Version 3.1, Revision 5, April 2017.
[3] Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation Part 3: Security
assurance components, Version 3.1 Revision 5, April 2017.
[4] collaborative Protection Profile for Network Devices, Version 2.2e, 23 March 2020
(NDcPP22e).
[5] PP-Module for Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS), 1.0, 11 May 2021 (IPS10).
[6] PP-Module for Stateful Traffic Filter Firewalls, Version 1.4 + Errata 20200625, 25
June 2020 (STFFW14e).
[7] PP-Module for VPN Gateways, Version 1.3, 25 August 2023 (VPNGW13).
[8] Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with FMC/FMCv Security Target,
Version 1.0, March 12, 2025 (ST).
[9] Assurance Activity Report for Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with
FMC/FMCv, Version 0.2, March 13, 2025 (AAR).
[10] Detailed Test Report for Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4 with
FMC/FMCv, Version 0.2, March 13, 2025 (DTR).
[11] Evaluation Technical Report for Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual 7.4
with FMC/FMCv, Version 0.2, March 13, 2025 (ETR).