The system's boot loader configuration file(s) must have mode 0600 or less permissive.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
GEN008720-ESXI5-PNF	GEN008720-ESXI5-PNF	GEN008720-ESXI5-PNF_rule		Medium

Description
File permissions greater than 0600 on boot loader configuration files could allow an unauthorized user to view or modify sensitive information pertaining to system boot instructions. 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.

Description

File permissions greater than 0600 on boot loader configuration files could allow an unauthorized user to view or modify sensitive information pertaining to system boot instructions. 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.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-GEN008720-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-GEN008720-ESXI5-PNF_fix)
This requirement is permanent not a finding. No fix is required.