The ESXi host must configure a session timeout for the vSphere API.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258781	ESXI-80-000226	SV-258781r959010_rule		Medium

Description
The vSphere API (VIM) allows for remote, programmatic administration of the ESXi host. Authenticated API sessions are no different from a risk perspective than authenticated UI sessions and they need similar protections. One of these protections is a basic inactivity timeout, after which the session will be invalidated and reauthentication will be required by the application accessing the API. This is set to 30 seconds by default but can be disabled, thus leaving API sessions open indefinitely. The 30 second default must be verified and maintained.

Description

The vSphere API (VIM) allows for remote, programmatic administration of the ESXi host. Authenticated API sessions are no different from a risk perspective than authenticated UI sessions and they need similar protections. One of these protections is a basic inactivity timeout, after which the session will be invalidated and reauthentication will be required by the application accessing the API. This is set to 30 seconds by default but can be disabled, thus leaving API sessions open indefinitely. The 30 second default must be verified and maintained.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 8.0 ESXi Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-07-11

Details

Check Text ( C-62521r933402_chk )
From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters. Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Advanced System Settings. Select the "Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout" value and verify it is set to "30". or From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following command: Get-VMHost \| Get-AdvancedSetting -Name Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout If the "Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout" setting is not set to "30", this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-62521r933402_chk )

From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters.

Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Advanced System Settings.

Select the "Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout" value and verify it is set to "30".

or

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

Get-VMHost | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout

If the "Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout" setting is not set to "30", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-62430r933403_fix)
From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters. Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Advanced System Settings. Click "Edit". Select the "Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout" value and configure it to "30". or From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following command: Get-VMHost \| Get-AdvancedSetting -Name Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout \| Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 30

Fix Text (F-62430r933403_fix)

From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters.

Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Advanced System Settings.

Click "Edit". Select the "Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout" value and configure it to "30".

or

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

Get-VMHost | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name Config.HostAgent.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 30