Cisco FMC Firewall Operations
MCP Server
- Repository: CiscoDevNet/CiscoFMC-MCP-server-community
- Transport: HTTP (
http://<host>:8000/mcp) — requires HTTPS reverse proxy for production - Install:
git clone+pip install -r requirements.txt+python -m sfw_mcp_fmc.server(or Docker) - Requires:
FMC_BASE_URL,FMC_USERNAME,FMC_PASSWORD
Available Tools (4)
| Tool | What It Does |
|---|---|
list_fmc_profiles | Discover all configured FMC instances (single or multi-FMC mode). Returns profile IDs, display names, and aliases. Use this first to select which FMC to query. |
find_rules_by_ip_or_fqdn | Search rules within a specific access policy by IP address or FQDN. Matches source/destination network objects against the given indicator. |
find_rules_for_target | Resolve FTD devices or HA clusters to their assigned access policies, then search those policies. Use when you know the firewall device name but not the policy name. |
search_access_rules | FMC-wide rule search with multiple filter types: network indicators (IP, FQDN), identity indicators (SGT tags, realm users/groups), and policy name filters. The most powerful search tool. |
Key Concepts
| Concept | What It Means |
|---|---|
| FMC | Firepower Management Center — centralized management for Cisco Secure Firewalls (FTD) |
| FTD | Firepower Threat Defense — the firewall appliance/virtual managed by FMC |
| Access Policy | Collection of access rules (ACLs) applied to FTD devices — permit/deny by source/dest/port/app |
| Access Rule | Individual rule within a policy — source zones, dest zones, source/dest networks, ports, action (allow/block/monitor) |
| SGT | Security Group Tag — TrustSec identity-based tag for micro-segmentation |
| HA Cluster | High Availability pair of FTD devices sharing the same policy |
| Profile | FMC connection configuration (URL, credentials) — supports multi-FMC environments |
Workflow: Firewall Rule Audit
When a user asks "what firewall rules exist for 10.1.1.0/24?":
- Discover FMCs:
list_fmc_profiles— identify which FMCs manage this network - Search rules:
search_access_ruleswith network indicator10.1.1.0/24 - For each match: Extract rule name, action (allow/block), source/dest zones, source/dest networks, ports, logging settings
- Cross-reference: Check if rules are overly permissive (any/any), redundant, or shadowed
- Report: Formatted rule table with security assessment
Workflow: "Can Host A Reach Host B?"
When investigating connectivity through the firewall:
- Identify FTD: Which firewall sits between source and destination?
- Resolve policy:
find_rules_for_targetwith the FTD device name - Search source IP:
find_rules_by_ip_or_fqdnfor the source IP in the resolved policy - Search dest IP: Same for destination IP
- Analyze: Do the matching rules permit the required port/protocol?
- Report: "Traffic from 10.1.1.50 to 10.2.1.100:443 is ALLOWED by rule 'Web-Servers-Inbound' (line 47)" or "BLOCKED by implicit deny"
Workflow: Security Group Tag (SGT) Policy Review
When auditing TrustSec/SGT-based policies:
- Search by SGT:
search_access_ruleswith identity indicator for a specific SGT value - List matching rules: Which rules reference this SGT in source or destination?
- Check actions: Are SGT-based rules enforcing proper segmentation?
- Cross-reference: Use
ise-posture-auditto verify SGT assignment policies in ISE - Report: SGT policy coverage analysis
Workflow: Multi-FMC Environment Audit
When managing multiple FMC instances:
- List all FMCs:
list_fmc_profiles— see all managed FMC instances - For each FMC:
search_access_ruleswith common indicators - Compare policies: Are policies consistent across FMCs?
- Identify drift: Rules present in one FMC but not another
- Report: Cross-FMC policy consistency analysis
Integration with Other Skills
| Skill | How They Work Together |
|---|---|
pyats-security | FMC rule audit + device-level ACL verification via pyATS |
ise-posture-audit | FMC SGT rules + ISE SGT assignment and TrustSec matrix |
ise-incident-response | FMC rules for quarantine verification + ISE endpoint investigation |
aws-security-audit | Cross-platform security: FMC on-prem + AWS cloud security posture |
gcp-cloud-logging | FMC firewall logs vs GCP firewall logs for hybrid environments |
nso-device-ops | FMC policies + NSO device config for end-to-end policy view |
servicenow-change-workflow | ServiceNow CR gating before any FMC policy modifications |
github-ops | Commit FMC rule snapshots to Git for config-as-code tracking |
Multi-FMC Configuration
Single FMC mode (set in .env):
FMC_BASE_URL=https://fmc.example.com FMC_USERNAME=api-user FMC_PASSWORD=changeme FMC_VERIFY_SSL=false
Multi-FMC mode (profile directory):
profiles/ dc-east.env # FMC for DC East dc-west.env # FMC for DC West dmz.env # FMC for DMZ firewalls
Each profile .env contains:
FMC_PROFILE_ID=dc-east FMC_PROFILE_DISPLAY_NAME=DC East FMC FMC_PROFILE_ALIASES=10.1.1.10,fmc-east FMC_BASE_URL=https://fmc-east.example.com FMC_USERNAME=api-user FMC_PASSWORD=changeme FMC_VERIFY_SSL=false
Important Rules
- Read-only — all 4 tools are search/query operations; no rule modifications
- HTTP transport — server runs on port 8000, front with HTTPS proxy for production
- Multi-FMC — always call
list_fmc_profilesfirst to select the right FMC instance - FMC API rate limits — FMC REST API has per-user rate limits; avoid rapid-fire queries
- Record in GAIT — log all firewall policy investigations for audit trail
Environment Variables
FMC_BASE_URL— FMC URL (e.g.,https://fmc.example.com)FMC_USERNAME— FMC API usernameFMC_PASSWORD— FMC API passwordFMC_VERIFY_SSL— SSL verification (true/false)FMC_PROFILES_DIR— path to multi-FMC profiles directory (optional)FMC_PROFILE_DEFAULT— default profile name (optional)
Failure Behavior
- On a tool error (timeout, unreachable host, malformed response), report the failure and its error message directly to the user rather than fabricating or guessing at results.
- For a confirmed read-only call, check connectivity and retry once if appropriate. For any call that changes state or sends a message, a timeout does not prove the action failed: inspect current state or delivery status before retrying, preserve the required approval/change gates, and do not repeat an action whose outcome is unknown.
