Detections
Analytics

1.33 VCSA-80-000269

Information

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

GROUP ID: V-258936RULE ID: SV-258936r961863

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.

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

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

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/23621

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000366, Rule-ID|SV-258936r961863_rule, STIG-ID|VCSA-80-000269, Vuln-ID|V-258936

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 8e4e8f619fdc20c1001f8232f7c337801d3226da0de0e28ab4114cb8fd70b8a7