The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to limit the number of allowed login attempts per connection.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-258882 | PHTN-40-000219 | SV-258882r933707_rule | CCI-000366 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| By setting the login attempt limit to a low value, an attacker will be forced to reconnect frequently, which severely limits the speed and effectiveness of brute-force attacks. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2023-10-29 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-258882r933707_chk)
At the command line, run the following command to verify the running configuration of sshd:
# sshd -T|&grep -i MaxAuthTries
Example result:
maxauthtries 6
If "MaxAuthTries" is not set to "6", this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-62531r933706_fix)
Navigate to and open:
/etc/ssh/sshd_config
Ensure the "MaxAuthTries" line is uncommented and set to the following:
MaxAuthTries 6
At the command line, run the following command:
# systemctl restart sshd.service