VMware vSphere 7.0 ESXi Security Technical Implementation Guide
Rules, Groups, and Values defined within the XCCDF Benchmark
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SRG-OS-000027-VMM-000080
Group -
Access to the ESXi host must be limited by enabling lockdown mode.
Enabling lockdown mode disables direct access to an ESXi host, requiring the host to be managed remotely from vCenter Server. This is done to ensure the roles and access controls implemented in vCe...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host must verify the DCUI.Access list.
Lockdown mode disables direct host access, requiring that administrators manage hosts from vCenter Server. However, if a host becomes isolated from vCenter, the administrator is locked out and can ...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host must verify the exception users list for lockdown mode.
While a host is in lockdown mode (strict or normal), only users on the "Exception Users" list are allowed access. These users do not lose their permissions when the host enters lockdown mode. The...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000032-VMM-000130
Group -
SRG-OS-000021-VMM-000050
Group -
The ESXi host must enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user.
By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute forcing, is reduced. Once the configured number of attempts is ...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000329-VMM-001180
Group -
The ESXi host must enforce an unlock timeout of 15 minutes after a user account is locked out.
By enforcing a reasonable unlock timeout after multiple failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute forcing, is reduced. Users must w...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000023-VMM-000060
Group -
The ESXi host must display the Standard Mandatory DOD Notice and Consent Banner before granting access to the system via the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI).
Failure to display the DOD logon banner prior to a logon attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000023-VMM-000060, SRG-OS-0...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000023-VMM-000060
Group -
The ESXi host must display the Standard Mandatory DOD Notice and Consent Banner before granting access to the system via Secure Shell (SSH).
Failure to display the DOD logon banner prior to a logon attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources.Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000023-VMM-000060
Group -
The ESXi host SSH daemon must be configured with the DOD logon banner.
The warning message reinforces policy awareness during the logon process and facilitates possible legal action against attackers. Alternatively, systems whose ownership should not be obvious should...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000033-VMM-000140
Group -
SRG-OS-000107-VMM-000530
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must ignore ".rhosts" files.
SSH trust relationships mean a compromise on one host can allow an attacker to move trivially to other hosts. SSH can emulate the behavior of the obsolete "rsh" command in allowing users to enable ...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must not allow host-based authentication.
SSH trust relationships mean a compromise on one host can allow an attacker to move trivially to other hosts. SSH's cryptographic host-based authentication is more secure than ".rhosts" authenticat...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must not allow authentication using an empty password.
Configuring this setting for the SSH daemon provides additional assurance that remote logon via SSH will require a password, even in the event of misconfiguration elsewhere.Rule Low Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must not permit user environment settings.
SSH environment options potentially allow users to bypass access restriction in some configurations. Users must not be able to present environment options to the SSH daemon.Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must perform strict mode checking of home directory configuration files.
If other users have access to modify user-specific SSH configuration files, they may be able to log on the system as another user.Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must not allow compression or must only allow compression after successful authentication.
If compression is allowed in an SSH connection prior to authentication, vulnerabilities in the compression software could result in compromise of the system from an unauthenticated connection, pote...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must be configured to not allow X11 forwarding.
X11 forwarding over SSH allows for the secure remote execution of X11-based applications. This feature can increase the attack surface of an SSH connection.Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must not permit tunnels.
OpenSSH has the ability to create network tunnels (layer 2 and layer 3) over an SSH connection. This function can provide similar convenience to a virtual private network (VPN) with the similar ris...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must set a timeout count on idle sessions.
Setting a timeout ensures that a user login will be terminated as soon as the "ClientAliveCountMax" is reached.Rule Low Severity -
SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000
Group -
The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must set a timeout interval on idle sessions.
Automatically logging out idle users guards against compromises via hijacked administrative sessions.Rule Low Severity -
SRG-OS-000037-VMM-000150
Group -
The ESXi host must produce audit records containing information to establish what type of events occurred.
Without establishing what types of events occurred, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events leading up to an outage or attack. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000037-VMM-000150...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000069-VMM-000360
Group -
SRG-OS-000077-VMM-000440
Group -
SRG-OS-000095-VMM-000480
Group -
The ESXi host must disable the Managed Object Browser (MOB).
The MOB provides a way to explore the object model used by the VMkernel to manage the host and enables configurations to be changed. This interface is meant to be used primarily for debugging the v...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000095-VMM-000480
Group -
SRG-OS-000095-VMM-000480
Group -
The ESXi host must disable ESXi Shell unless needed for diagnostics or troubleshooting.
The ESXi Shell is an interactive command line environment available locally from the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) or remotely via SSH. Activities performed from the ESXi Shell bypass vCente...Rule Medium Severity -
SRG-OS-000104-VMM-000500
Group -
The ESXi host must use Active Directory for local user authentication.
Join ESXi hosts to an Active Directory domain to eliminate the need to create and maintain multiple local user accounts. Using Active Directory for user authentication simplifies the ESXi host conf...Rule Low Severity
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