The ESXi host must terminate shell services after 10 minutes.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-256406 | ESXI-70-000042 | SV-256406r970703_rule | Medium |
| Description |
| When the ESXi Shell or Secure Shell (SSH) services are enabled on a host, they will run indefinitely. To avoid having these services left running, set the "ESXiShellTimeOut". The "ESXiShellTimeOut" defines a window of time after which the ESXi Shell and SSH services will be stopped automatically. |
| STIG | Date |
| VMware vSphere 7.0 ESXi Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2024-12-16 |
Details
| Check Text (C-60081r885997_chk) |
| From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters. Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Advanced System Settings. Select the "UserVars.ESXiShellTimeOut" value and verify it is set to "600" (10 minutes). or From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following command: Get-VMHost | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name UserVars.ESXiShellTimeOut If the "UserVars.ESXiShellTimeOut" setting is not set to "600", this is a finding. |
| Fix Text (F-60024r885998_fix) |
| From the vSphere Client, go to Hosts and Clusters. Select the ESXi Host >> Configure >> System >> Advanced System Settings. Click "Edit". Select the "UserVars.ESXiShellTimeOut" value and configure it to "600". or From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host, run the following commands: Get-VMHost | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name UserVars.ESXiShellTimeOut | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 600 |