The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must not allow host-based authentication.
An XCCDF Rule
Description
<VulnDiscussion>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" authentication because hosts are cryptographically authenticated. However, it is not recommended that hosts unilaterally trust one another, even within an organization.</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>
- ID
- SV-256386r885939_rule
- Severity
- Medium
- References
- Updated
Remediation - Manual Procedure
From an ESXi shell, add or correct the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config":
HostbasedAuthentication no