8.2.8 Ensure PCI and PCIe device passthrough is disabled

Information

Using the VMware DirectPath I/O feature to pass through a PCI or PCIe device to a virtual machine can result in a potential security vulnerability.

Rationale:

The vulnerability can be triggered by buggy or malicious code running in privileged mode in the guest OS, such as a device driver.

Solution

Using the vSphere Web Client:

Select each VM

Click 'Configure' -> 'Settings' -> 'Virtual Hardware' ->

Remove the PCI/PCIe passthrough device.

Additionally, the following PowerCLI command can be used:

# Add the setting to all VMs
Get-VM | New-AdvancedSetting -Name 'pciPassthru*.present' -value ''

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/8020

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6, 800-53|CM-7, CSCv7|9.2

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 820509bd4716070674a97424abd64a979e4d1e28be0b25b81a6797ddb6677697