Virtual machines (VMs) must remove unneeded serial devices.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-258725	VMCH-80-000212	SV-258725r959010_rule		Medium

Description
Ensure no device is connected to a virtual machine if it is not required. For example, floppy, serial, and parallel ports are rarely used for virtual machines in a data center environment, and CD/DVD drives are usually connected only temporarily during software installation.

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

Details

Check Text ( C-62465r933234_chk )
For each virtual machine do the following: From the vSphere Client, right-click the Virtual Machine and go to "Edit Settings". Review the VMs hardware and verify no serial devices exist. or From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host or vCenter server, run the following command: Get-VM \| Where {$_.ExtensionData.Config.Hardware.Device.DeviceInfo.Label -match "serial"} If a virtual machine has a serial device present, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-62465r933234_chk )

For each virtual machine do the following:

From the vSphere Client, right-click the Virtual Machine and go to "Edit Settings".

Review the VMs hardware and verify no serial devices exist.

or

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

Get-VM | Where {$_.ExtensionData.Config.Hardware.Device.DeviceInfo.Label -match "serial"}

If a virtual machine has a serial device present, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-62374r933235_fix)
The VM must be powered off to remove a serial device. For each virtual machine do the following: From the vSphere Client, right-click the Virtual Machine and go to "Edit Settings". Select the serial device, click the circled "X" to remove it, and click "OK".