The ESXi host must disable ESXi Shell unless needed for diagnostics or troubleshooting.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-256401	ESXI-70-000036	SV-256401r885984_rule		Medium

Description
The ESXi Shell is an interactive command line environment available locally from the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) or remotely via SSH. Activities performed from the ESXi Shell bypass vCenter role-based access control (RBAC) and audit controls. The ESXi shell must only be turned on when needed to troubleshoot/resolve problems that cannot be fixed through the vSphere client.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 7.0 ESXi Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-02-21

Details

Check Text ( C-60076r885982_chk )
From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters. Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Services. Under "Services", locate the "ESXi Shell" service and verify it is "Stopped". or From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following command: Get-VMHost \| Get-VMHostService \| Where {$_.Label -eq "ESXi Shell"} If the ESXi Shell service is "Running", this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-60076r885982_chk )

From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters.

Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Services.

Under "Services", locate the "ESXi Shell" service and verify it is "Stopped".

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following command:

Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.Label -eq "ESXi Shell"}

If the ESXi Shell service is "Running", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-60019r885983_fix)
From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters. Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Services. Under "Services", select the "ESXi Shell" service and click the "Stop" button. Click the "Edit Startup policy..." button. Select the "Start and stop manually" radio button. Click "OK". or From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following commands: Get-VMHost \| Get-VMHostService \| Where {$_.Label -eq "ESXi Shell"} \| Set-VMHostService -Policy Off Get-VMHost \| Get-VMHostService \| Where {$_.Label -eq "ESXi Shell"} \| Stop-VMHostService

Fix Text (F-60019r885983_fix)

From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters.

Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Services.

Under "Services", select the "ESXi Shell" service and click the "Stop" button.

Click the "Edit Startup policy..." button.

Select the "Start and stop manually" radio button.

Click "OK".

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following commands:

Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.Label -eq "ESXi Shell"} | Set-VMHostService -Policy Off
Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.Label -eq "ESXi Shell"} | Stop-VMHostService