The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must use FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic modules to protect the confidentiality of remote access sessions.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-256384	ESXI-70-000010	SV-256384r885933_rule		Medium

Description
OpenSSH on the ESXi host ships with a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic module that is enabled by default. For backward compatibility reasons, this can be disabled so this setting can be audited and corrected if necessary.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 7.0 ESXi Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-06-21

Details

Check Text ( C-60059r885931_chk )
From an ESXi shell, run the following command: # esxcli system security fips140 ssh get or From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following commands: $esxcli = Get-EsxCli -v2 $esxcli.system.security.fips140.ssh.get.invoke() Expected result: Enabled: true If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-60002r885932_fix)
From an ESXi shell, run the following command: # esxcli system security fips140 ssh set -e true or From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following commands: $esxcli = Get-EsxCli -v2 $arguments = $esxcli.system.security.fips140.ssh.set.CreateArgs() $arguments.enable = $true $esxcli.system.security.fips140.ssh.set.Invoke($arguments)