Cisco Catalyst Center Authentication

generated: '2026-08-19'
method: searched
source: https://developer.cisco.com/docs/catalyst-center/authentication/
docs:
- https://developer.cisco.com/docs/catalyst-center/authentication/
- https://developer.cisco.com/docs/catalyst-center/authentication-api/
note: 'None of the 27 published OpenAPI documents declares a components.securitySchemes block, so this profile is authored
  from Cisco''s own authentication documentation rather than derived from the specs. That gap is itself a finding: an agent
  reading only the published contracts would not learn how to authenticate.'
summary:
  types:
  - http
  - apiKey
  api_key_in:
  - header
  oauth2_flows: []
  model: exchange HTTP Basic credentials for a short-lived opaque token, then send that token in a custom header
schemes:
- name: basicAuthTokenExchange
  type: http
  scheme: basic
  token_endpoint: POST https://{catalyst-center-host}/dna/system/api/v1/auth/token
  description: Base64-encoded USERNAME:PASSWORD sent in the Authorization header to the token endpoint over HTTPS. The response
    body carries the token. Cisco also documents a CSRO-AES-256 AES-key-encryption variant for the token operation.
  sources:
  - https://developer.cisco.com/docs/catalyst-center/authentication/
- name: xAuthToken
  type: apiKey
  in: header
  parameter_name: X-Auth-Token
  description: Opaque bearer token returned by the token endpoint; required on every subsequent Intent, data and system
    API call. Lifetime is 60 minutes. An expired or missing token returns 401 UNAUTHORIZED and the client must re-authenticate.
  token_lifetime_minutes: 60
  sources:
  - https://developer.cisco.com/docs/catalyst-center/authentication/
authorization:
  model: Catalyst Center role-based access control on the platform account
  note: 'Permissions are those of the Catalyst Center user whose credentials were exchanged for the token. There is no OAuth
    2.0 authorization server, no scope vocabulary and no token-scoping mechanism, so scopes/ is intentionally absent from
    this repo. Cisco''s own MCP README makes the consequence explicit: the server "does not add an authorization layer or
    enforce read-only access" and executes tools with the configured account''s permissions.'
sandbox_credentials: sandbox/cisco-catalyst-center-sandbox.yml