The operating system must obscure feedback of authentication information during the authentication process to protect the information from possible exploitation/use by unauthorized individuals.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
SRG-OS-000079-ESXI5-PNF	SRG-OS-000079-ESXI5-PNF	SRG-OS-000079-ESXI5-PNF_rule		Medium

Description
To prevent the compromise of authentication information, such as passwords during the authentication process, the feedback from the operating system shall not provide any information allowing an unauthorized user to compromise the authentication mechanism. Obfuscation of user provided information that is typed into the system is a method used when addressing this risk. For example, displaying asterisks when a user types in a password, is an example of obscuring feedback of authentication information. Permanent not a finding - Lockdown mode (required) limits access via the vpxuser proxy. The proxy's password is 32 (randomly selected) characters, SHA1 encrypted, not configurable, and changed every 30 days "or" sooner when/if a new host is configured/controlled by the vCenter Server. This password is obfuscated on vCenter. AD handles non-root admin user requirements.

Description

To prevent the compromise of authentication information, such as passwords during the authentication process, the feedback from the operating system shall not provide any information allowing an unauthorized user to compromise the authentication mechanism. Obfuscation of user provided information that is typed into the system is a method used when addressing this risk. For example, displaying asterisks when a user types in a password, is an example of obscuring feedback of authentication information. Permanent not a finding - Lockdown mode (required) limits access via the vpxuser proxy. The proxy's password is 32 (randomly selected) characters, SHA1 encrypted, not configurable, and changed every 30 days "or" sooner when/if a new host is configured/controlled by the vCenter Server. This password is obfuscated on vCenter. AD handles non-root admin user requirements.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-SRG-OS-000079-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-SRG-OS-000079-ESXI5-PNF_fix)
This requirement is permanent not a finding. No fix is required.