The system must restrict the ability to switch to the root user for members of a defined group.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
GEN000850-ESXI5-PNF	GEN000850-ESXI5-PNF	GEN000850-ESXI5-PNF_rule		Low

Description
Configuring a supplemental group for users permitted to switch to the root user prevents unauthorized users from accessing the root account, even with knowledge of the root credentials. Applicable, but permanent not-a-finding - Not a General Purpose (GP) OS. VMware's ESXi-v5 is a multi-user kernel where all users are "administrator" with either: Administrator with Full and partial (configurable) privileges, Read-only, or No Access. In this case, the file owner, group-owner and mode(s) have no meaning. The "su" command use is unrestricted.

Description

Configuring a supplemental group for users permitted to switch to the root user prevents unauthorized users from accessing the root account, even with knowledge of the root credentials. Applicable, but permanent not-a-finding - Not a General Purpose (GP) OS. VMware's ESXi-v5 is a multi-user kernel where all users are "administrator" with either: Administrator with Full and partial (configurable) privileges, Read-only, or No Access. In this case, the file owner, group-owner and mode(s) have no meaning. The "su" command use is unrestricted.

STIG	Date
VMware ESXi v5 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2013-01-15

Details

Check Text ( C-GEN000850-ESXI5-PNF_chk )
ESXi supports this requirement and cannot be configured to be out of compliance. This is a permanent not a finding.

Fix Text (F-GEN000850-ESXI5-PNF_fix)
This requirement is permanent not a finding. No fix is required.