Question

Difficulty: MediumAAA Framework and Authentication Methods

A network security administrator is configuring centralized access control for managing enterprise switch and router CLI sessions. The security policy mandates two key capabilities: full packet payload encryption for all authorization traffic, and granular per-command authorization for administrative roles. Which of the following operational characteristics of TACACS+ satisfy these requirements when compared to RADIUS? (Select TWO.)

  1. TACACS+ encrypts the entire body of the packet, whereas RADIUS encrypts only the password field.Answer
  2. TACACS+ separates authentication, authorization, and accounting into distinct functions, enabling individual command authorization.Answer
  3. C
    TACACS+ uses UDP transport to minimize session establishment overhead compared to RADIUS TCP connections.
  4. D
    TACACS+ combines authentication and authorization into a single protocol exchange to streamline server processing.

Answer

TACACS+ encrypts the entire body of the packet, whereas RADIUS encrypts only the password field, and TACACS+ separates authentication, authorization, and accounting into distinct functions, enabling individual command authorization.
TACACS+ encrypts the entire packet payload following its standard header and decouples the AAA pillars into independent services. Decoupling authentication from authorization allows TACACS+ to perform real-time, per-command authorization checks for administrative CLI sessions.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Evaluate the encryption boundary of each protocol.
TACACS+ encrypts the entire packet body following the header, whereas RADIUS encrypts only the user password field within Access-Request packets.
Protecting management commands and authorization responses across the network requires full payload encryption.
2
Evaluate how AAA functions are handled.
TACACS+ separates AAA into independent services, allowing the network access server to validate each command executed by an administrator against the AAA server.
RADIUS binds authentication and authorization together, which prevents granular per-command restriction during an established session.

Key Concept

AAA Framework protocol characteristics (TACACS+ vs RADIUS)
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