The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must disable port forwarding.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-258785 | ESXI-80-000230 | SV-258785r933416_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 8.0 ESXi Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2023-10-11 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-258785r933416_chk)
From an ESXi shell, run the following command:
# esxcli system ssh server config list -k allowtcpforwarding
or
From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following commands:
$esxcli = Get-EsxCli -v2
$esxcli.system.ssh.server.config.list.invoke() | Where-Object {$_.Key -eq 'allowtcpforwarding'}
Example result:
allowtcpforwarding no
If "allowtcpforwarding" is not configured to "no", this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-62434r933415_fix)
From an ESXi shell, run the following command:
# esxcli system ssh server config set -k allowtcpforwarding -v no
or
From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following commands:
$esxcli = Get-EsxCli -v2
$arguments = $esxcli.system.ssh.server.config.set.CreateArgs()
$arguments.keyword = 'allowtcpforwarding'
$arguments.value = 'no'
$esxcli.system.ssh.server.config.set.Invoke($arguments)