The ESXi host must enforce password complexity by configuring a password quality policy.

An XCCDF Rule

Description

To enforce the use of complex passwords, minimum numbers of characters of different classes are mandated. The use of complex passwords reduces the ability of attackers to successfully obtain valid passwords using guessing or exhaustive search techniques. Complexity requirements increase the password search space by requiring users to construct passwords from a larger character set than they may otherwise use. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000069-VMM-000360, SRG-OS-000070-VMM-000370, SRG-OS-000071-VMM-000380, SRG-OS-000072-VMM-000390, SRG-OS-000072-VMM-000390, SRG-OS-000078-VMM-000450, SRG-OS-000266-VMM-000940

ID: SV-258734r933263_rule
Version: ESXI-80-000035
Severity: Medium
References: CCI-000192 CCI-000193 CCI-000194 CCI-000195 CCI-000205 CCI-001619
Updated: about 2 months ago

Remediation Templates

From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters.

Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Advanced System Settings.

Click "Edit". Select the "Security.PasswordQualityControl" value and configure it to "similar=deny retry=3 min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,15".
or

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

Get-VMHost | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name Security.PasswordQualityControl | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value "similar=deny retry=3 min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,15"

The ESXi host must enforce password complexity by configuring a password quality policy.

Description

Remediation Templates

A Manual Procedure