VMware Horizon 7.13 Connection Server Security Technical Implementation Guide

Overview

Version	Date	Finding Count (35)			Downloads
1	2021-07-30	CAT I (High): 6	CAT II (Med): 29	CAT III (Low): 0	Excel	JSON	XML

STIG Description
This Security Technical Implementation Guide is published as a tool to improve the security of Department of Defense (DoD) information systems. The requirements are derived from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 and related documents. Comments or proposed revisions to this document should be sent via email to the following address: disa.stig_spt@mail.mil.

Available Profiles

Classified	Public	Sensitive
I - Mission Critical Classified	I - Mission Critical Public	I - Mission Critical Sensitive	II - Mission Support Classified	II - Mission Support Public	II - Mission Support Sensitive	III - Administrative Classified	III - Administrative Public	III - Administrative Sensitive

Findings (MAC III - Administrative Sensitive)

Finding ID	Severity	Title	Description
V-246885	High	The Horizon Connection Server must force server cipher preference.	By default, during the initial setup of a Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection to the Horizon Connection Server, the client sends a list of supported cipher suites in order of preference. The...
V-246884	High	The Blast Secure Gateway must be configured to only support TLS 1.2 connections.	Preventing the disclosure of transmitted information requires that the application server take measures to employ strong cryptographic mechanisms to protect the information during transmission....
V-246883	High	The Horizon Connection Server must be configured to only support TLS 1.2 connections.	Preventing the disclosure of transmitted information requires that the application server take measures to employ strong cryptographic mechanisms to protect the information during transmission....
V-246888	High	The Horizon Connection Server must require DoD PKI for administrative logins.	The Horizon Connection Server console supports CAC login as required for cryptographic non-repudiation. CAC login can be configured as disabled, optional or required but for maximum assurance it...
V-246916	High	All Horizon components must be running supported versions.	Security flaws with software applications are discovered daily. Vendors are constantly updating and patching their products to address newly discovered security vulnerabilities. Organizations...
V-246893	High	The Horizon Connection Server must only use FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic modules.	Encryption is only as good as the encryption modules utilized. Unapproved cryptographic module algorithms cannot be verified and cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, and...
V-246906	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must be configured in accordance with the security configuration settings based on DoD security configuration or implementation guidance, including STIGs, NSA configuration guides, CTOs, and DTMs.	Configuring the application to implement organization-wide security implementation guides and security checklists ensures compliance with federal standards and establishes a common security...
V-246907	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must have X-Frame-Options enabled.	RFC 7034 HTTP Header Field X-Frame-Options, also known as counter clickjacking, is enabled by default on the Horizon Connection Server. It can be disabled by adding the entry "x-frame-options=OFF"...
V-246904	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must backup its configuration daily.	Configuring the application to implement organization-wide security implementation guides and security checklists ensures compliance with federal standards and establishes a common security...
V-246905	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server Instant Clone domain account must be configured with limited permissions.	Configuring the application to implement organization-wide security implementation guides and security checklists ensures compliance with federal standards and establishes a common security...
V-246902	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must not accept pass-through client credentials.	Horizon Connection Server has the ability to allow clients to authenticate using the local session credentials of their local endpoint. While convenient, this must be disabled for DoD deployments...
V-246903	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must require DoD PKI for client logins.	Before clients can pick a desktop or app to access, they must first authenticate to the broker, the Connection Server itself. If the client is accessing the broker directly, then the allowed...
V-246900	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must disconnect applications after two hours of idle time.	Horizon View is intended to provide remote desktops and applications during for more or less continuous use. If an application is open and goes used for more than two hours, that application must...
V-246901	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must discard SSO credentials after 15 minutes.	Horizon Connection Server caches user credentials temporarily to ensure that the user can connect to their desktop pools without reauthenticating, right after logging in to the broker. However,...
V-246908	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must have Origin Checking enabled.	RFC 6454 Origin Checking, which protects against cross-site request forging, is enabled by default on the Horizon Connection Server. When an administrator opens the Horizon 7 Console or a user...
V-246909	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must enable the Content Security Policy.	The Horizon Connection Server Content Security Policy (CSP) feature mitigates a broad class of content injection vulnerabilities, such as cross-site scripting (XSS), clickjacking and other code...
V-246887	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server administrators must be limited in terms of quantity, scope, and permissions.	Role based access and least privilege are two fundamental security concepts that must be properly implemented in Horizon View to ensure the right user and groups have the right permissions on the...
V-246886	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must be configured to debug level logging.	To ensure that all security-relevant information and events are logged, the Horizon Connection Server must be configured with the "debug" logging level. This is the default value but since it...
V-246882	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must limit the number of concurrent client sessions.	The Horizon Connection Server has the ability to limit the number of simultaneous client connections. This capability is helpful in limiting resource exhaustion risks related to denial of service...
V-246889	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must be configured with an events database.	The Horizon Connection Server stores application level events and actions in a dedicated database versus log files. This makes day-to-day administration easier while offloading these events to a...
V-246911	Medium	The PCoIP Secure Gateway must be configured with a DoD-issued TLS certificate.	The DoD will only accept PKI certificates obtained from a DoD-approved internal or external certificate authority (CA). If the CA used for verifying the certificate is not a DoD-approved CA, trust...
V-246910	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must enable the proper Content Security Policy directives.	The Horizon Connection Server Content Security Policy (CSP) feature mitigates a broad class of content injection vulnerabilities such as cross-site scripting (XSS), clickjacking and other code...
V-246913	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must require CAC reauthentication after user idle timeouts.	If a user VDI session times out due to activity, the user must be assumed to not be active and have their resource locked. These resources should only be made available again upon the user...
V-246912	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must not allow unauthenticated access.	When the Horizon native smart card capability is not set to "Required", the option for "Unauthenticated Access" is enabled. This would be true in the case of an external IdP providing...
V-246915	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must prevent MIME type sniffing.	MIME types define how a given type of file is intended to be processed by the browser. Modern browsers are capable of determining the content type of a file by byte headers and content inspection...
V-246914	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must be configured to restrict USB passthrough access.	One of the many benefits of VDI is the separation of the end user from the "desktop" they are accessing. This helps mitigate the risks imposed by physical access. In a traditional desktop...
V-246894	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must time out administrative sessions after 15 minutes or less.	If communications sessions remain open for extended periods of time even when unused, there is the potential for an adversary to hijack the session and use it to gain access to the...
V-246895	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must protect log files from unauthorized access.	Error logs can contain sensitive information about system errors and system architecture that need to be protected from unauthorized access and modification. By default, Horizon Connection Server...
V-246896	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must offload events to a central log server in real time.	Information system logging capability is critical for accurate forensic analysis. Centralized management of log records provides for efficiency in maintenance and management of records, as well as...
V-246897	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must be configured with a DoD-issued TLS certificate.	The DoD will only accept PKI certificates obtained from a DoD-approved internal or external certificate authority (CA). If the CA used for verifying the certificate is not DoD-approved, trust of...
V-246890	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must limit access to the global configuration privilege.	The Horizon Connection Server comes with pre-defined privileges that can be combined in any combination into a role. That role is then assigned to a user or group. Any role that has the "Manage...
V-246891	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must perform full path validation on server-to-server TLS connection certificates.	The Horizon Connection Server performs certificate revocation checking on its own certificate and on those of the security servers paired to it. Each instance also checks the certificates of...
V-246892	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must validate client and administrator certificates.	The Horizon Connection Server can be configured to check the revocation status of PKI certificates over both OCSP and CRL. This capability is disabled by default and must be enabled...
V-246898	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must reauthenticate users after a network interruption.	Given the remote access nature of Horizon Connection Server, the client must be ensured to be under positive control as much as is possible from the server side. As such, whenever a network...
V-246899	Medium	The Horizon Connection Server must disconnect users after a maximum of ten hours.	Horizon Connection Server is intended to provide remote desktops and applications, generally during working hours and for no more than an extended workday. Leaving sessions active for more than...