The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to disallow authentication with an empty password.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-258870 | PHTN-40-000207 | SV-258870r933671_rule | CCI-000366 | high |
| Description | ||||
| Blank passwords are one of the first things an attacker checks for when probing a system. Even if the user somehow has a blank password on the OS, SSH must not allow that user to log in. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2023-10-29 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-258870r933671_chk)
At the command line, run the following command to verify the running configuration of sshd:
# sshd -T|&grep -i PermitEmptyPasswords
Example result:
permitemptypasswords no
If "PermitEmptyPasswords" is not set to "no", this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-62519r933670_fix)
Navigate to and open:
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
Ensure the "PermitEmptyPasswords" line is uncommented and set to the following:
PermitEmptyPasswords no
At the command line, run the following command:
# systemctl restart sshd.service