The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to disable X11 forwarding.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-258875 | PHTN-40-000212 | SV-258875r933686_rule | CCI-000366 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| X11 is an older, insecure graphics forwarding protocol. It is not used by Photon and should be disabled as a general best practice to limit attack surface area and communication channels. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2023-10-29 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-258875r933686_chk)
At the command line, run the following command to verify the running configuration of sshd:
# sshd -T|&grep -i X11Forwarding
Example result:
x11forwarding no
If "X11Forwarding" is not set to "no", this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-62524r933685_fix)
Navigate to and open:
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
Ensure the "X11Forwarding" line is uncommented and set to the following:
X11Forwarding no
At the command line, run the following command:
# systemctl restart sshd.service