← Back to VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) Security Technical Implementation Guide

V-259157

CAT II (Medium)

The vCenter VAMI service must implement HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS).

Rule ID

SV-259157r1003730_rule

STIG

VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V2R2

CCIs

CCI-000366

Discussion

HSTS instructs web browsers to only use secure connections for all future requests when communicating with a website. Doing so helps prevent SSL protocol attacks, SSL stripping, cookie hijacking, and other attempts to circumvent SSL protection.

Check Content

At the command prompt, run the following command:

# /opt/vmware/cap_lighttpd/sbin/lighttpd -p -f /var/lib/vmware/cap-lighttpd/lighttpd.conf 2>/dev/null|awk '/setenv\.add-response-header/,/\)/'|sed -e 's/^[ ]*//'|grep "Strict-Transport-Security"

Example result:

"Strict-Transport-Security" => "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

If the response header "Strict-Transport-Security" is missing or not configured to "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload", this is a finding.

Note: The command must be run from a bash shell and not from a shell generated by the "appliance shell". Use the "chsh" command to change the shell for the account to "/bin/bash". Refer to KB Article 2100508 for more details:

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2100508

Fix Text

Navigate to and open:

/opt/vmware/etc/lighttpd/applmgmt-lighttpd.conf

If header "Strict-Transport-Security" is not present, add the following line to the end of the file:

setenv.add-response-header += ("Strict-Transport-Security" => "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload")

If header "Strict-Transport-Security" is present and not set to "Deny", update the value as shown below:

"Strict-Transport-Security" => "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload",

Note: The last line in the parameter does not need a trailing comma if part of a multi-line configuration.

Restart the service with the following command:

# systemctl restart cap-lighttpd