The ESXi host SSH daemon must not allow authentication using an empty password.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-93977	ESXI-65-000015	SV-104063r1_rule		High

Description
Configuring this setting for the SSH daemon provides additional assurance that remote login via SSH will require a password, even in the event of misconfiguration elsewhere.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 6.5 ESXi Security Technical Implementation Guide	2019-12-13

Details

Check Text ( C-93295r1_chk )
From an SSH session connected to the ESXi host, or from the ESXi shell, run the following command: # grep -i "^PermitEmptyPasswords" /etc/ssh/sshd_config If there is no output or the output is not exactly "PermitEmptyPasswords no", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-100225r1_fix)
From an SSH session connected to the ESXi host, or from the ESXi shell, add or correct the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config": PermitEmptyPasswords no