The Security Token Service must set the secure flag for cookies.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-256773	VCST-70-000030	SV-256773r889289_rule		Medium

Description
The secure flag is an option that can be set by the application server when sending a new cookie to the user within an HTTP Response. The purpose of the secure flag is to prevent cookies from being observed by unauthorized parties due to the transmission of the cookie in clear text. By setting the secure flag, the browser will prevent the transmission of a cookie over an unencrypted channel. The Security Token Service is configured to only be accessible over a Transport Layer Security (TLS) tunnel, but this cookie flag is still a recommended best practice.

Description

The secure flag is an option that can be set by the application server when sending a new cookie to the user within an HTTP Response. The purpose of the secure flag is to prevent cookies from being observed by unauthorized parties due to the transmission of the cookie in clear text. By setting the secure flag, the browser will prevent the transmission of a cookie over an unencrypted channel. The Security Token Service is configured to only be accessible over a Transport Layer Security (TLS) tunnel, but this cookie flag is still a recommended best practice.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance STS Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-06-15

Details

Check Text ( C-60448r889287_chk )
At the command prompt, run the following command: # xmllint --format /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/web.xml \| sed '2 s/xmlns=".*"//g' \| xmllint --xpath '/web-app/session-config/cookie-config/secure' - Expected result: true If the output of the command does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-60391r889288_fix)
Navigate to and open: /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/web.xml Navigate to the /// node and configure it as follows: true true Restart the service with the following command: # vmon-cli --restart sts