ESXI-06-000029 - The system must remove keys from the SSH authorized_keys file.

Information

ESXi hosts come with SSH which can be enabled to allow remote access without requiring user authentication. To enable password free access copy the remote users public key into the '/etc/ssh/keys-root/authorized_keys' file on the ESXi host. The presence of the remote user's public key in the 'authorized_keys' file identifies the user as trusted, meaning the user is granted access to the host without providing a password. If using Lockdown Mode and SSH is disabled then login with authorized keys will have the same restrictions as username/password.

Solution

As root, log in to the host and zero/remove /etc/ssh/keys-root/authorized_keys file:
# >/etc/ssh/keys-root/authorized_keys
or
# rm /etc/ssh/keys-root/authorized_keys

See Also

http://iasecontent.disa.mil/stigs/zip/U_VMware_vSphere_6-0_ESXi_V1R5_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000366, Group-ID|V-63227, Rule-ID|SV-77717r1_rule, STIG-ID|ESXI-06-000029, Vuln-ID|V-63227

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 582c56f4a6e10d2dffd0849242654917cfec13b0363eae638ae303f3c6951949