ESXI-06-400031 - The VMM must enforce a minimum 15-character password length.

Information

To enforce the use of complex passwords, minimum numbers of characters of different classes are mandated. The use of complex passwords reduces the ability of attackers to successfully obtain valid passwords using guessing or exhaustive search techniques. Complexity requirements increase the password search space by requiring users to construct passwords from a larger character set than they may otherwise use.

Solution

From the vSphere Client select the ESXi Host and go to Configuration >> Advanced Settings. Select the Security.PasswordQualityControl value and configure it to 'similar=deny retry=3 min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,15'.

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host run the following commands:

Get-VMHost | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name Security.PasswordQualityControl | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 'similar=deny retry=3 min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,15'

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMware_vSphere_6-0_ESXi_V1R5_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1)(a), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000205, Group-ID|V-63919, Rule-ID|SV-78409r1_rule, STIG-ID|ESXI-06-400031, Vuln-ID|V-63919

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 18fde0d610b3502f78bc2574cd83c6092d13142fae56fbd60dfb88207c49b529