Details
Configure VMware Tools to disable host information from being sent to guests unless a particular VM requires this information for performance monitoring purposes.
Rationale:
By enabling a VM to get detailed information about the physical host, an adversary could potentially use this information to inform further attacks on the host.
Solution
To set this configuration utilize the vSphere interface as follows:
Select the VM then select Actions followed by Edit Settings.
Click on the VM Options tab then expand Advanced.
Click on EDIT CONFIGURATION.
Click on ADD CONFIGURATION PARAMS then input tools.guestlib.enableHostInfo with a value of FALSE.
Click OK, then OK again.
To prevent host information from being sent to guests, run the following PowerCLI command:
# Add the setting to all VMs
Get-VM | New-AdvancedSetting -Name ‘tools.guestlib.enableHostInfo’ -value $false
Default Value:
FALSE
Supportive Information
The following resource is also helpful.
This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: Configuration Management, Identification and Authentication.This control applies to the following type of system VMware.