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The SSH daemon must not allow host-based authentication.


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-63195 ESXI-06-000013 SV-77685r1_rule Medium
Description
SSH trust relationships mean a compromise on one host can allow an attacker to move trivially to other hosts.
STIG Date
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide 2017-07-11

Details

Check Text ( C-63929r1_chk )
To verify how the SSH daemon's "HostbasedAuthentication" option is set, run the following command:

# grep -i "^HostbasedAuthentication" /etc/ssh/sshd_config

If there is no output or the output is not exactly "HostbasedAuthentication no", this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-69113r1_fix)
SSH's cryptographic host-based authentication is more secure than ".rhosts" authentication, since hosts are cryptographically authenticated. However, it is not recommended that hosts unilaterally trust one another, even within an organization.

Add or correct the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config":

HostbasedAuthentication no