The vCenter STS service cookies must have "http-only" flag set.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258988	VCST-80-000129	SV-258988r960792_rule		Medium

Description
Cookies are a common way to save session state over the HTTP(S) protocol. If attackers can compromise session data stored in a cookie, they are better able to launch an attack against the server and its applications. When a cookie is tagged with the "HttpOnly" flag, it tells the browser this particular cookie should only be accessed by the originating server. Any attempt to access the cookie from client script is strictly forbidden.

Description

Cookies are a common way to save session state over the HTTP(S) protocol. If attackers can compromise session data stored in a cookie, they are better able to launch an attack against the server and its applications. When a cookie is tagged with the "HttpOnly" flag, it tells the browser this particular cookie should only be accessed by the originating server. Any attempt to access the cookie from client script is strictly forbidden.

STIG	Date
VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Secure Token Service (STS) Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-07-11

Details

Check Text ( C-62728r934620_chk )
At the command prompt, run the following command: # xmllint --format /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/web.xml \| sed 's/xmlns=".*"//g' \| xmllint --xpath '/web-app/session-config/cookie-config/http-only' - Expected result: true If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-62637r934621_fix)
Navigate to and open: /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/web.xml Navigate to the node and configure the as follows: 30 true true Restart the service with the following command: # vmon-cli --restart sts