The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must not allow authentication using an empty password.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-256387	ESXI-70-000015	SV-256387r885942_rule		Low

Description
Configuring this setting for the SSH daemon provides additional assurance that remote logon via SSH will require a password, even in the event of misconfiguration elsewhere.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-60062r885940_chk )
From an ESXi shell, run the following command: # /usr/lib/vmware/openssh/bin/sshd -T|grep permitemptypasswords Expected result: permitemptypasswords no If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-60005r885941_fix)
From an ESXi shell, add or correct the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config": PermitEmptyPasswords no