Virtual machines (VMs) must not be able to obtain host information from the hypervisor.

An XCCDF Rule

Description

<VulnDiscussion>If enabled, a VM can obtain detailed information about the physical host. The default value for the parameter is FALSE. This setting should not be TRUE unless a particular VM requires this information for performance monitoring. An adversary could use this information to inform further attacks on the host.</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>

ID: SV-258711r933194_rule
Severity: Medium
References: CCI-000366
Updated: 8 months ago

For each virtual machine do the following:

From the vSphere Client, right-click the Virtual Machine and go to Edit Settings >> Advanced Parameters.

Find the "tools.guestlib.enableHostInfo" value and set it to "false".
If the setting does not exist no action is needed. 

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host or vCenter server, run the following command:

Get-VM "VM Name" | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name tools.guestlib.enableHostInfo | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value false

Note: The VM must be powered off to configure the advanced settings through the vSphere Client. Therefore, it is recommended to configure these settings with PowerCLI as this can be done while the VM is powered on. Settings do not take effect via either method until the virtual machine is cold started, not rebooted.

Virtual machines (VMs) must not be able to obtain host information from the hypervisor.

Description

Remediation - Manual Procedure