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V-258735

CAT II (Medium)

The ESXi host must prohibit password reuse for a minimum of five generations.

Rule ID

SV-258735r933266_rule

STIG

VMware vSphere 8.0 ESXi Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R1

CCIs

CCI-000200

Discussion

If a user or root used the same password continuously or was allowed to change it back shortly after being forced to change it to something else, it would provide a potential intruder with the opportunity to keep guessing at one user's password until it was guessed correctly.

Check Content

From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters.

Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Advanced System Settings.

Select the "Security.PasswordHistory" value and verify it is set to "5" or greater.

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following command:

Get-VMHost | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name Security.PasswordHistory

If the "Security.PasswordHistory" setting is set to a value other than 5 or greater, this is a finding.

Fix Text

From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters.

Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Advanced System Settings.

Click "Edit". Select the "Security.PasswordHistory" value and configure it to "5".

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following command:

Get-VMHost | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name Security.PasswordHistory | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 5