The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must disable port forwarding.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-256434 | ESXI-70-000082 | SV-256434r959010_rule | CCI-000366 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| While enabling Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) tunnels is a valuable function of sshd, this feature is not appropriate for use on the ESXi hypervisor. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| VMware vSphere 7.0 ESXi Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-02-11 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-256434r959010_chk)
From an ESXi shell, run the following command:
# /usr/lib/vmware/openssh/bin/sshd -T|grep allowtcpforwarding
Expected result:
allowtcpforwarding no
If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-60052r886082_fix)
From an ESXi shell, add or correct the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config":
AllowTcpForwarding no