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← Back to VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Security Technical Implementation Guide

V-258936

CAT II (Medium)

The vCenter Server must set the distributed port group Media Access Control (MAC) Address Change policy to "Reject".

Rule ID

SV-258936r961863_rule

STIG

VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V2R3

CCIs

CCI-000366

Discussion

If the virtual machine operating system changes the MAC address, it can send frames with an impersonated source MAC address at any time. This allows it to stage malicious attacks on the devices in a network by impersonating a network adaptor authorized by the receiving network. This will prevent virtual machines from changing their effective MAC address and will affect applications that require this functionality. This will also affect how a layer 2 bridge will operate and will affect applications that require a specific MAC address for licensing.

Check Content

If distributed switches are not used, this is not applicable.

From the vSphere Client, go to "Networking".

Select a distributed switch >> Select a port group >> Configure >> Settings >> Policies.

Verify "MAC Address Changes" is set to "Reject".

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the vCenter server, run the following commands:

Get-VDSwitch | Get-VDSecurityPolicy
Get-VDPortgroup | ?{$_.IsUplink -eq $false} | Get-VDSecurityPolicy

If the "MAC Address Changes" policy is set to accept, this is a finding.

Fix Text

From the vSphere Client, go to "Networking".

Select a distributed switch >> Select a port group >> Configure >> Settings >> Policies.

Click "Edit".

Click the "Security" tab.

Set "MAC Address Changes" to "Reject".

Click "OK".
 
or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the vCenter server, run the following commands:

Get-VDSwitch | Get-VDSecurityPolicy | Set-VDSecurityPolicy -MacChanges $false
Get-VDPortgroup | ?{$_.IsUplink -eq $false} | Get-VDSecurityPolicy | Set-VDSecurityPolicy -MacChanges $false