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The vCenter STS service deployXML attribute must be disabled.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-266136 VCST-80-000138 SV-266136r1003677_rule Medium
Description
The Host element controls deployment. Automatic deployment allows for simpler management but also makes it easier for an attacker to deploy a malicious application. Automatic deployment is controlled by the autoDeploy and deployOnStartup attributes. If both are false, only Contexts defined in server.xml will be deployed, and any changes will require a Tomcat restart. In a hosted environment where web applications may not be trusted, set the deployXML attribute to "false" to ignore any context.xml packaged with the web application that may try to assign increased privileges to the web application. Note that if the security manager is enabled, the deployXML attribute will default to false.
STIG Date
VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Secure Token Service (STS) Security Technical Implementation Guide 2024-07-11

Details

Check Text ( C-70060r1003675_chk )
At the command prompt, run the following command:

# xmllint --xpath "//Host/@deployXML" /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/server.xml

Expected result:

deployXML="false"

If "deployXML" does not equal "false", this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-69963r1003676_fix)
Navigate to and open:

/usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/server.xml

Navigate to the node and configure with the value "deployXML="false"".

Restart the service with the following command:

# vmon-cli --restart sts