VM : prevent-device-interaction-edit

Information

Prevent unauthorized removal, connection and modification of devices.
In a virtual machine, users and processes without root or administrator privileges can connect or disconnect devices, such as network adaptors and CD-ROM drives, and can modify device settings. Use the virtual machine settings editor or configuration editor to remove unneeded or unused hardware devices. If you want to use the device again, you can prevent a user or running process in the virtual machine from connecting, disconnecting, or modifying a device from within the guest operating system. By default, a rogue user with nonadministrator privileges in a virtual machine can:
1. Connect a disconnected CD-ROM drive and access sensitive information on the media left in the drive
2. Disconnect a network adaptor to isolate the virtual machine from its network, which is a denial of service
3. Modify settings on a device

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.security.doc/GUID-F88A5FED-552B-44F9-A168-C62D9306DBD6.html

Solution

# Add the setting to all VMs -
Get-VM | New-AdvancedSetting -Name "isolation.device.edit.disable" -value $true

See Also

https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/files/xls/vSphere_6_0_Hardening_Guide_GA_15_Jun_2015.xls

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL

References: 800-53|AC-6(10)

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 532c1fc0727536ea6a143adbc87599f9a90ed94c9249a0dc6bc4e310e42f0e1e