Detections
Analytics

1.22 VMCH-80-000211

Information

Virtual machines (VMs) must remove unneeded parallel devices.

GROUP ID: V-258724RULE ID: SV-258724r959010

Ensure no device is connected to a virtual machine if it is not required. For example, floppy, serial, and parallel ports are rarely used for virtual machines in a data center environment, and CD/DVD drives are usually connected only temporarily during software installation.

Solution

Parallel devices are no longer visible through the vSphere Client and must be done via the Application Programming Interface (API) or PowerCLI.

The VM must be powered off to remove a parallel device.

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

$pport = (Get-VM -Name ).ExtensionData.Config.Hardware.Device | Where {$_.DeviceInfo.Label -match "Parallel"}$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec$spec.DeviceChange += New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpec$spec.DeviceChange[-1].device = $pport$spec.DeviceChange[-1].operation = "remove"(Get-VM -Name ).ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/23620

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000366, Rule-ID|SV-258724r959010_rule, STIG-ID|VMCH-80-000211, Vuln-ID|V-258724

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 6efb6823a4f3f9b0199d281e2fedaa0ade21cc890064b65b04ee2f9a6b5fea4b