If you have not already heard, vSphere 6.7 has been released, and Update Manager is now available in the HTML5 based vSphere Client. If you want to upgrade ESXi to 6.7, Update Manager is the easiest way to do so. Update Manager, also known as VUM, has been integrated into the vCenter Server Appliance since vSphere 6.5, so if you are using the VCSA you are ready to start using Update Manager.![Vsphere Vsphere](https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/files/2017/07/vSphere-65.jpeg)
![6.5 6.5](https://www.ntweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/112216_0507_14ThingsYou1.png)
Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces ESXi 6.5 vCenter Server 6.5 This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of. Feb 18, 2017 vSphere ESXi 6.5 – Unable to take quiesced snapshot ESXi, VMware, vSphere, Windows Server Add comments. This is an issue that effects quite a few people and numerous forum threads can be found on the internet by those searching for the solution.
Using vSphere Update Manager 6.7, you can upgrade ESXi from 6.0 to 6.7 or ESXi from 6.5 to 6.7. If you are trying to upgrade vSphere 5.5 to 6.7 you can still use VUM, but it will be a two step process. You will first need to upgrade ESXi from 5.5 to 6.5 and then ESXi from 6.5 to 6.7. Now, let’s talk about what you need to get started with your ESXi 6.7 upgrade.
Getting Ready to Upgrade to ESXi 6.7 Using vSphere Update Manager
Before you update ESXi to 6.7, there are a couple of things you you need to do first:
- Have a vSphere 6.7 VCSA deployed. You can easily upgrade your existing VCSA or deploy a new one. This is essential to using vSphere Update Manager for your upgrade.
- Have the ESXi 6.7 ISO downloaded. You will need this to upgrade your ESXi hosts from vSphere 6.0 or 6.5.
- Verified your vSphere environment is compatible with ESXi 6.7. This includes your server hardware, your storage array, and anything else that directly touches your vSphere environment. If you do not check this list, you can find yourself in big trouble when it comes to running a supported configuration after your ESXi 6.7 update. If you are not familiar with the VMware Compatibility Guide, be sure to read this post for step-by-step instructions how to use it.
All of these steps are essential to your ESXi 6.7 upgrade success!
Ready for your ESXi 6.7 upgrade? Great. Here is the step by step guide on how to upgrade ESXi 6.5 to 6.7.
The ESXi Update Process: Getting Used to vCenter 6.7 and the vSphere Client
If you have not used the HTML5 based vSphere Client, it is the client of choice in vSphere 6.7. You will notice things look a little difference once you navigate to your VCSA.
Once you are logged using the first option, the vSphere Client, you will notice things look a little different. Do not worry, if you have not spent much time using the HTML5 based vSphere client, it as easy and intuitive to use as the vSphere Web Client was.
I recommend using the HTML5 based vSphere client for you ESXi 6.7 upgrade, since the upgrade process is so simple. These simple tasks will help you become more familiar with the HTML5 client.
Finding Update Manager in vSphere 6.7 for the ESXi 6.7 Upgrade
There are many, many ways to get to Update Manager in vSphere 6.7 when you want to upgrade to ESXi 6.7. Personally, I click Shortcuts under Home in the left navigation pane, then Update Manager in the right pane.
You will see that as you browse other vSphere inventory items, there is often a link for vSphere Update Manager Home. This will bring you to the same place. There are many different ways to do things in VMware vSphere.
ESXi Update Process: Preparing Update Manager for ESXi 6.7 Host Upgrade
Now that we have accessed VUM, we need to configure it in order to be able to upgrade ESXi from 6.5 to 6.7. The first thing we are going to do is upload our ESXi 6.7 image. It is important to do this first, as we will need to have it uploaded for later configuration steps.
In the vSphere Update Manager screen, we simply need to click ESXi images on the right, then click IMPORT. Preparing vSphere Update Manager is essential when it is time to update ESXi.
I hope you remembered where you downloaded that ESXi 6.7 ISO, since we are performing the ESXi 6.7 update. Just browse to the location, and click Import. The import should go quickly, and you are one step closer to completing your ESXi upgrade.
I hope you remembered where you downloaded that ESXi 6.7 ISO, since we are performing the ESXi 6.7 update. Just browse to the location, and click Import. The import should go quickly, and you are one step closer to completing your ESXi upgrade.
Create A New Update Manager Baseline to Upgrade ESXi 6.5 to 6.7
A baseline is just a fancy term for the state you would like Update Manager to bring your vSphere environment to. Start by clicking Baselines, and select New Baseline. It is important that you have uploaded your ESXi 6.7 image before performing this step.
There are three types of baselines in vSphere Update Manager. We are going to create an Upgrade baseline to upgrade ESXi. There is also a Patch baseline for installing ESXi patches, and an Extension baseline to add additional software to an ESXi host. Enter a name for your Upgrade Baseline and click Next.
It is important to use a name which makes sense, such as vSphere 6.7 Upgrade or vSphere 6.7 Update. That way, in later steps, you will know exactly what the purpose of each baseline is.
Remember that ESXi 6.7 image we imported? Select it, and click next.
Now our vSphere Update Manager baseline is ready to complete. You will see a summary of the host upgrade baseline you have just created. Click Finish to create the baseline. This baseline is for your vSphere 6.7 upgrade to ESXi 6.7.
Attaching a Baseline to ESXi Hosts for ESXi 6.7
The next step is to attach a Baseline to the ESXi hosts you would like to upgrade. There are many different ways to accomplish this. You can attach baselines to different objects within VMware vCenter Server.
I prefer to attach them to vSphere clusters, but you can also attach them at the Datacenter or individual ESXi host level. No matter which way you decide to do this, it is a key step of the ESXi update process.
Click the vSphere cluster in Hosts and Clusters View. In the right pane, click Updates. Remember I said there were many ways to get to Update Manager? You will see you can click GO TO UPDATE MANAGER HOME to get to the Update Manager interface we were just using.
Click ATTACH to attach to select which baseline to attach to the cluster. We are almost ready to update ESXi!
Now, select the baseline you have previously created, I named mine vSphere 6.7 Upgrade. Click OK.
That is it! We are now ready to upgrade ESXi.
Upgrading ESXi to from 6.5 to 6.7 or Upgrade ESXi 6.0 to 6.7
Fist and foremost, let’s take a look at one of the ESXi hosts we will be upgrading to ESXi 6.7 from ESXi 6.5. You could also upgrade ESXi 6.0 to 6.7 using this method. To do this, you would follow the same steps in your vSphere 6.0 environment. The method is identical other than your starting point.
![Vsphere Vsphere](https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/files/2017/07/vSphere-65.jpeg)
As you can see, my host is running ESXi 6.5, and yes, it is virtual ESXi host. Now we are going to get this host running the latest and greatest version of VMware vSphere!
I wish I was going to click a cool UPGRADE NOW button, but I will select REMEDIATE from the Update pane of our cluster.
Jumpstart 3d virtual world the legend of grizzly mcguffin mechanical. Remediate is a nice way of saying make sure our host is compliant with its attached baseline. In this case, clicking the button is what will actually update ESXi. After we click REMEDIATE, we will be prompted to accept the VMware EULA.
After we click accept the EULA, we will see exactly what is about to get upgrade in our environment.
Now, we simply click OK and off our hosts go! They will now be updated to ESXi 6.7. vCenter will cycle through the cluster, putting the hosts into maintenance mode and upgrading them as you can see here:
Now is a good time to step away and get a nice beverage while your ESXi environment upgrades itself. As you can see, our upgrade has been successful and we are now running ESXi 6.7!
You will also see it is complaint with the attached baseline. This is another way of showing it is now running ESXi 6.7 since that is what the baseline was configured to do.
Congratulations! You are now running the latest version of VMware vSphere. I hope you are reading this article before you perform your upgrade, because there are a number of things to think about before hand.
As I mentioned, it is important to make sure your environment is compatible with vSphere 6.7 before you perform your upgrade. Just because everything “works”, that does not mean it is supported!
In addition, a vSphere upgrade can also be an opportunity to fix some things in your environment that may not be optimal. Rebecca Fitzhugh and I presented a session at VMworld 2017 entitled Upgrading to vSphere 6.5 the VCDX Way. This methodology is still valid when upgrading to vSphere 6.7.
VMware vSphere Upgrade Paths to ESXi 6.7
Now that we have shown how to perform an ESXi update to 6.7, we will review your upgrade path options. Remember, before you start your upgrade you should ensure all components (both software and hardware) are compatible on the VMware Compatibility Guide.
Upgrade ESXi 6.5 to 6.7
You are in the right place! Simply follow the steps in this article.
Upgrade ESXi 6.0 to 6.7
Again, you have come to the right place! Simply follow the steps in this article.
Upgrade ESXi 5.5 to 6.5
If you are still running vSphere 5.5, remember, end of general support is coming on September 19, 2018! It will be a two step upgrade from vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 6.7, so the time is now to start planning. You can find instructions for upgrading from ESXi 5.5 to 6.5 using Update Manager here.
After you have finished your upgrade to vSphere 6.5, simply follow this article you are reading now to update ESXi to 6.7.
VMware makes it very easy to perform an ESXi upgrade. Upgrading to ESXi 6.7 is not much different than the previous versions, other than the addition of the HTML5 based vSphere client.
If you are just not yet comfortable with new client for your ESXi 6.7 upgrade, you can still use the former vSphere Web Client. You can follow these instructions on upgrading from ESXi 5.5 to 6.5, and simply use the ESXi 6.7 ISO file.
Why Should I Upgrade to ESXi 6.7?
Great question! As much as we all want to upgrade to ESXi 6.7 since it is the latest and greatest version of ESXi, the fact of the matter is we are going to need a good reason to do our ESXi 6.7 upgrade.
The Change Management practices in organizations generally do not like to see someone upgrading an environment just to get to the latest version. Generally, you will have much more success in getting your ESXi 6.7 upgrade approved if you have good business reasons behind it.
Some examples are:
- To remain on a supported version of ESXi (we always want to make sure we can call VMware support if we need to!)
- To take advantage of new features and functionality (check out this blog from VMware on what is new in vSphere 6.7)
- To enhance the security of our environment
- To make the environment easier to use for operations team, such as allowing them to take advantage of the new and improved HTML5 vSphere Client
These are just a couple of ideas to get you started on your upgrade path. Good luck, and enjoy ESXi 6.7
Going Beyond ESXi 6.7?
Are you going beyond ESXi 6.7? Be sure to check out these resources:
Remember, before you update your production environment to vSphere 6.7, it is always nice to get a feel for the upgrade in a development or test environment. After all, each VMware release is full of new features, like in the case of VMware vSphere 6.7 U2 – What You Need to Know.
Vmware Esxi 6.5 Download
After testing the new version of vSphere in development or test, you can update your operational documentation before your production environment and be ready to hit the ground running after your VMware vSphere upgrade.
Vsphere Esxi 6.5
![6.5 6.5](https://www.ntweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/112216_0507_14ThingsYou1.png)
Related posts:
Vsphere Esxi 6.5
Findings (MAC III - Administrative Sensitive)
Esxi 6.5 Vsphere Client Download
Finding ID | Severity | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
V-94041 | High | The ESXi Image Profile and VIB Acceptance Levels must be verified. | Verify the ESXi Image Profile to only allow signed VIBs. An unsigned VIB represents untested code installed on an ESXi host. The ESXi Image profile supports four acceptance levels: (1) .. |
V-94067 | High | The virtual switch MAC Address Change policy must be set to reject on the ESXi host. | If the virtual machine operating system changes the MAC address, it can send frames with an impersonated source MAC address at any time. This allows it to stage malicious attacks on the devices in .. |
V-93977 | High | The ESXi host SSH daemon must not allow authentication using an empty password. | Configuring this setting for the SSH daemon provides additional assurance that remote login via SSH will require a password, even in the event of misconfiguration elsewhere. |
V-94479 | High | The ESXi host must have all security patches and updates installed. | Installing software updates is a fundamental mitigation against the exploitation of publicly-known vulnerabilities. |
V-94477 | High | The ESXi host must verify the integrity of the installation media before installing ESXi. | Always check the SHA1 or MD5 hash after downloading an ISO, offline bundle, or patch to ensure integrity and authenticity of the downloaded files. |
V-93969 | High | The ESXi host SSH daemon must be configured to use only the SSHv2 protocol. | SSH protocol version 1 suffers from design flaws that result in security vulnerabilities and should not be used. Only SSH protocol version 2 connections should be permitted. |
V-94349 | Medium | The ESXi host must not provide root/administrator level access to CIM-based hardware monitoring tools or other third-party applications. | The CIM system provides an interface that enables hardware-level management from remote applications via a set of standard APIs. Create a limited-privilege, read-only service account for CIM. .. |
V-93959 | Medium | The ESXi host must enforce the unlock timeout of 15 minutes after a user account is locked out. | By limiting the number of failed login attempts, the risk of unauthorized access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. |
V-93973 | Medium | The ESXi host 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' .. |
V-93955 | Medium | Remote logging for ESXi hosts must be configured. | Remote logging to a central log host provides a secure, centralized store for ESXi logs. By gathering host log files onto a central host it can more easily monitor all hosts with a single tool. It .. |
V-93957 | Medium | The ESXi host must enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user. | By limiting the number of failed login attempts, the risk of unauthorized access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute-forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. |
V-93979 | Medium | The ESXi host 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. |
V-93993 | Medium | The ESXi host 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. |
V-93995 | Medium | The ESXi host SSH daemon must not accept environment variables from the client. | Environment variables can be used to change the behavior of remote sessions and should be limited. Locale environment variables that specify the language, character set, and other features .. |
V-93971 | Medium | The ESXi host 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 .. |
V-93997 | Medium | The ESXi host 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 .. |
V-93965 | Medium | The ESXi host SSH daemon must be configured with the Department of Defense (DoD) login 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 .. |
V-93949 | Medium | The ESXi host must limit the number of concurrent sessions to ten for all accounts and/or account types by enabling lockdown mode. | Enabling lockdown mode disables direct access to an ESXi host requiring the host be managed remotely from vCenter Server. This is done to ensure the roles and access controls implemented in .. |
V-93961 | Medium | The ESXi host must display the Standard Mandatory DoD Notice and Consent Banner before granting access to the system. | Failure to display the DoD logon banner prior to a log in attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources. |
V-94043 | Medium | The ESXi host must protect the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information by isolating vMotion traffic. | While encrypted vMotion is available now vMotion traffic should still be sequestered from other traffic to further protect it from attack. This network must be only be accessible to other ESXi .. |
V-94079 | Medium | For physical switch ports connected to the ESXi host, the non-negotiate option must be configured for trunk links between external physical switches and virtual switches in VST mode. | In order to communicate with virtual switches in VST mode, external switch ports must be configured as trunk ports. VST mode does not support Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP), so the trunk must be .. |
V-94047 | Medium | The ESXi host must protect the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information by protecting IP based management traffic. | Virtual machines might share virtual switches and VLANs with the IP-based storage configurations. IP-based storage includes vSAN, iSCSI and NFS. This configuration might expose IP-based storage .. |
V-100543 | Medium | The ESXi host must protect the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information by protecting ESXi management traffic. | The vSphere management network provides access to the vSphere management interface on each component. Services running on the management interface provide an opportunity for an attacker to gain .. |
V-94015 | Medium | The ESXi host must disable the Managed Object Browser (MOB). | The Managed Object Browser (MOB) provides a way to explore the object model used by the VMkernel to manage the host and enables configurations to be changed as well. This interface is meant to be .. |
V-94065 | Medium | The virtual switch Forged Transmits policy must be set to reject on the ESXi host. | If the virtual machine operating system changes the MAC address, the operating system can send frames with an impersonated source MAC address at any time. This allows an operating system to stage .. |
V-94069 | Medium | The virtual switch Promiscuous Mode policy must be set to reject on the ESXi host. | When promiscuous mode is enabled for a virtual switch all virtual machines connected to the Portgroup have the potential of reading all packets across that network, meaning only the virtual .. |
V-94061 | Medium | The ESXi host must configure the firewall to block network traffic by default. | In addition to service specific firewall rules ESXi has a default firewall rule policy to allow or deny incoming and outgoing traffic. Reduce the risk of attack by making sure this is set to deny .. |
V-94005 | Medium | The ESXi host must remove keys from the SSH authorized_keys file. | ESXi hosts come with SSH which can be enabled to allow remote access without requiring user authentication. To enable password free access copy the remote users public key into the .. |
V-94029 | Medium | The ESXi host must set a timeout to automatically disable idle sessions after 10 minutes. | If a user forgets to log out of their SSH session, the idle connection will remains open indefinitely, increasing the potential for someone to gain privileged access to the host. The .. |
V-94017 | Medium | The ESXi host must be configured to disable non-essential capabilities by disabling SSH. | The ESXi Shell is an interactive command line interface (CLI) available at the ESXi server console. The ESXi shell provides temporary access to commands essential for server maintenance. Intended .. |
V-94009 | Medium | The ESXi host must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one upper-case character be used. | 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 .. |
V-94023 | Medium | The ESXi host must use the vSphere Authentication Proxy to protect passwords when adding ESXi hosts to Active Directory. | If you configure your host to join an Active Directory domain using Host Profiles the Active Directory credentials are saved in the host profile and are transmitted over the network. To avoid .. |
V-94031 | Medium | The ESXi host must terminate shell services after 10 minutes. | When the ESXi Shell or SSH services are enabled on a host they will run indefinitely. To avoid having these services left running set the ESXiShellTimeOut. The ESXiShellTimeOut defines a window .. |
V-94003 | Medium | The ESXi host SSH daemon must limit connections to a single session. | The SSH protocol has the ability to provide multiple sessions over a single connection without reauthentication. A compromised client could use this feature to establish additional sessions to a .. |
V-94011 | Medium | The ESXi host must prohibit the reuse of passwords within five iterations. | If a user, or root, used the same password continuously or was allowed to change it back shortly after being forced to change it to something else, it would provide a potential intruder with the .. |
V-93989 | Medium | The ESXi host 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, .. |
V-94083 | Medium | All ESXi host-connected virtual switch VLANs must be fully documented and have only the required VLANs. | When defining a physical switch port for trunk mode, only specified VLANs must be configured on the VLAN trunk link. The risk with not fully documenting all VLANs on the vSwitch is that it is .. |
V-93967 | Medium | The ESXi host SSH daemon must use DoD-approved encryption to protect the confidentiality of remote access sessions. | Approved algorithms should impart some level of confidence in their implementation. Limit the ciphers to those algorithms which are FIPS-approved. Counter (CTR) mode is also preferred over .. |
V-94059 | Medium | The ESXi host must configure the firewall to restrict access to services running on the host. | Unrestricted access to services running on an ESXi host can expose a host to outside attacks and unauthorized access. Reduce the risk by configuring the ESXi firewall to only allow access from .. |
V-93981 | Medium | The ESXi host SSH daemon must be configured to only use Message Authentication Codes (MACs) employing FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hash algorithms. | DoD information systems are required to use FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hash functions. |
V-94013 | Medium | The password hashes stored on the ESXi host must have been generated using a FIPS 140-2 approved cryptographic hashing algorithm. | Systems must employ cryptographic hashes for passwords using the SHA-2 family of algorithms or FIPS 140-2 approved successors. The use of unapproved algorithms may result in weak password hashes .. |
V-93987 | Medium | The ESXi host 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 into the system as another user. |
V-94039 | Medium | The ESXi host must configure NTP time synchronization. | To assure the accuracy of the system clock, it must be synchronized with an authoritative time source within DoD. Many system functions, including time-based login and activity restrictions, .. |
V-94053 | Medium | SNMP must be configured properly on the ESXi host. | If SNMP is not being used, it must remain disabled. If it is being used, the proper trap destination must be configured. If SNMP is not properly configured, monitoring information can be sent to a .. |
V-94487 | Medium | The ESXi host must enable Secure Boot. | Secure Boot is a protocol of UEFI firmware that ensures the integrity of the boot process from hardware up through to the OS. Secure Boot for ESXi requires support from the firmware and it .. |
V-93963 | Medium | The ESXi host must display the Standard Mandatory DoD Notice and Consent Banner before granting access to the system. | Failure to display the DoD logon banner prior to a log in attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources. |
V-94019 | Medium | 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 DCUI or remotely via SSH. Activities performed from the ESXi Shell bypass vCenter RBAC and audit controls. The .. |
V-94077 | Medium | For the ESXi host all port groups must not be configured to VLAN values reserved by upstream physical switches. | Certain physical switches reserve certain VLAN IDs for internal purposes and often disallow traffic configured to these values. For example, Cisco Catalyst switches typically reserve VLANs .. |
V-94037 | Medium | The ESXi host must enable a persistent log location for all locally stored logs. | ESXi can be configured to store log files on an in-memory file system. This occurs when the host's '/scratch' directory is linked to '/tmp/scratch'. When this is done only a single day's worth of .. |
V-94033 | Medium | The ESXi host must logout of the console UI after 10 minutes. | When the Direct console user interface (DCUI) is enabled and logged in it should be automatically logged out if left logged in to avoid unauthorized privilege gains. The DcuiTimeOut defines a .. |
V-94073 | Medium | For the ESXi host all port groups must be configured to a value other than that of the native VLAN. | ESXi does not use the concept of native VLAN. Frames with VLAN specified in the port group will have a tag, but frames with VLAN not specified in the port group are not tagged and therefore will .. |
V-94071 | Medium | The ESXi host must prevent unintended use of the dvFilter network APIs. | If you are not using products that make use of the dvfilter network API, the host should not be configured to send network information to a VM. If the API is enabled an attacker might attempt to .. |
V-94489 | Medium | The ESXi host must use DoD-approved certificates. | The default self-signed, VMCA issued host certificate must be replaced with a DoD-approved certificate. The use of a DoD certificate on the host assures clients that the service they are .. |
V-94075 | Medium | For the ESXi host all port groups must not be configured to VLAN 4095 unless Virtual Guest Tagging (VGT) is required. | When a port group is set to VLAN 4095, this activates VGT mode. In this mode, the vSwitch passes all network frames to the guest VM without modifying the VLAN tags, leaving it up to the guest to .. |
V-93975 | Low | The ESXi host SSH daemon must not permit root logins. | Permitting direct root login reduces auditable information about who ran privileged commands on the system and also allows direct attack attempts on root's password. |
V-93951 | Low | The ESXi host must verify the DCUI.Access list. | Lockdown mode disables direct host access requiring that admins manage hosts from vCenter Server. However, if a host becomes isolated from vCenter Server, the admin is locked out and can no .. |
V-93953 | Low | The ESXi host must verify the exception users list for lockdown mode. | In vSphere you can add users to the Exception Users list from the vSphere Web Client. These users do not lose their permissions when the host enters lockdown mode. Usually you may want to add .. |
V-93999 | Low | The ESXi host SSH daemon must set a timeout count on idle sessions. | This ensures a user login will be terminated as soon as the 'ClientAliveCountMax' is reached. |
V-94505 | Low | The ESXi host must require individuals to be authenticated with an individual authenticator prior to using a group authenticator by using Active Directory for local user authentication. | Join ESXi hosts to an Active Directory (AD) domain to eliminate the need to create and maintain multiple local user accounts. Using AD for user authentication simplifies the ESXi host .. |
V-93991 | Low | The ESXi host SSH daemon must be configured to not allow gateway ports. | SSH TCP connection forwarding provides a mechanism to establish TCP connections proxied by the SSH server. This function can provide similar convenience to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with the .. |
V-94051 | Low | The ESXi host must protect the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information by utilizing different TCP/IP stacks where possible. | There are three different TCP/IP stacks by default available on ESXi now which are Default, Provisioning, and vMotion. To better protect and isolate sensitive network traffic within ESXi admins .. |
V-94001 | Low | The ESXi hostSSH daemon must set a timeout interval on idle sessions. | Causing idle users to be automatically logged out guards against compromises one system leading trivially to compromises on another. |
V-94007 | Low | 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. |
V-94063 | Low | The ESXi host must enable BPDU filter on the host to prevent being locked out of physical switch ports with Portfast and BPDU Guard enabled. | BPDU Guard and Portfast are commonly enabled on the physical switch to which the ESXi host is directly connected to reduce the STP convergence delay. If a BPDU packet is sent from a virtual .. |
V-94055 | Low | The ESXi host must enable bidirectional CHAP authentication for iSCSI traffic. | When enabled, vSphere performs bidirectional authentication of both the iSCSI target and host. There is a potential for a MiTM attack, when not authenticating both the iSCSI target and host, in .. |
V-94021 | Low | The ESXi host must use Active Directory for local user authentication. | Join ESXi hosts to an Active Directory (AD) domain to eliminate the need to create and maintain multiple local user accounts. Using AD for user authentication simplifies the ESXi host .. |
V-94027 | Low | The ESXi host must use multifactor authentication for local access to privileged accounts. | To assure accountability and prevent unauthenticated access, privileged users must utilize multifactor authentication to prevent potential misuse and compromise of the system. |
V-94025 | Low | Active Directory ESX Admin group membership must not be used when adding ESXi hosts to Active Directory. | When adding ESXi hosts to Active Directory, if the group 'ESX Admins' exists, all user/group accounts assigned to the group will have full administrative access to the host. Discretion should be .. |
V-94081 | Low | All ESXi host-connected physical switch ports must be configured with spanning tree disabled. | Since VMware virtual switches do not support STP, the ESXi host-connected physical switch ports must have portfast configured if spanning tree is enabled to avoid loops within the physical switch .. |
V-93983 | Low | The ESXi host SSH daemon must not permit GSSAPI authentication. | GSSAPI authentication is used to provide additional authentication mechanisms to applications. Allowing GSSAPI authentication through SSH exposes the system’s GSSAPI to remote hosts, increasing .. |
V-93985 | Low | The ESXi host SSH daemon must not permit Kerberos authentication. | Kerberos authentication for SSH is often implemented using GSSAPI. If Kerberos is enabled through SSH, the SSH daemon provides a means of access to the system's Kerberos implementation. .. |
V-94035 | Low | The ESXi host must enable kernel core dumps. | In the event of a system failure, the system must preserve any information necessary to determine cause of failure and any information necessary to return to operations with least disruption to .. |
V-94057 | Low | The ESXi host must disable Inter-VM transparent page sharing. | Published academic papers have demonstrated that by forcing a flush and reload of cache memory, it is possible to measure memory timings to try and determine an AES encryption key in use on .. |