GEN005518-ESXI5-704 - The SSH client must be configured to not allow gateway ports.

Information

SSH TCP connection forwarding provides a mechanism to establish TCP connections proxied by the SSH server. This function can provide similar convenience to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with the similar risk of providing a path to circumvent firewalls and network ACLs. Gateway ports allow remote forwarded ports to bind to non-loopback addresses on the server.

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

Solution

Disable lock down mode.
Enable the ESXi Shell. Edit the SSH client configuration and add/modify the 'GatewayPorts' configuration, setting it to 'no'.
# vi /etc/ssh/ssh_config

Re-enable lock down mode.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMW_ESXi5_Server_V2R1_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b., CAT|III, CCI|CCI-000366, Group-ID|V-39251, Rule-ID|SV-250594r798781_rule, STIG-ID|GEN005518-ESXI5-704, STIG-Legacy|SV-51067, STIG-Legacy|V-39251, Vuln-ID|V-250594

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: f136bea6b4076bcf5690f64d16c7ca82cda31fd34f2daf0fb64bbe039dc05f89