VCENTER-000003 - The VMware Update Manager must not be configured to manage its own VM or the VM of its vCenter Server.

Information

The VMware Update Manager (vUM) and vCenter Server (vCS) are VM installable on an ESXi hypervisor host. For all ESXi hypervisors and VMs, including those of the vCS and the vUM, software and system security patches must be installed and up-to-date. For the use case where the vUM hypervisor/VM or the vCS hypervisor/VM reboots while undergoing remediation, this will halt that process. Note that for the use case where the vCS hypervisor/VM reboots, the result is a worst case scenario of a temporary, unplanned vCS outage.

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

Solution

Determine if both the VMware Update Manager (vUM) and vCenter Server (vCS) are installed as physical or virtual machines.

No fix is required for vCS/vUM if the vCS and vUM are both installed as physical machines.

If the vCS and vUM are installed as virtual machines, they must both be managed either manually or by a secondary installation of vCS and the vUM.

All remaining organization hypervisor hosts/VMs must be configured to receive software and security patch updates, via the vUM, on an organization-defined, regularly scheduled basis.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMW_ESXi5_vCenter_Server_V2R1_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000366, Group-ID|V-39544, Rule-ID|SV-250726r799868_rule, STIG-ID|VCENTER-000003, STIG-Legacy|SV-51402, STIG-Legacy|V-39544, Vuln-ID|V-250726

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: a6231bf456742b015e4de1e3981d37d5d20c159705349b0272f52ba08b95e1f4