Details

To enforce the use of complex passwords, minimum numbers of characters of different classes are mandated. The use of complex passwords reduces the ability of attackers to successfully obtain valid passwords using guessing or exhaustive search techniques. Complexity requirements increase the password search space by requiring users to construct passwords from a larger character set than they may otherwise use.

Solution

From the vSphere Client select the ESXi Host and go to Configuration >> Advanced Settings. Select the Security.PasswordQualityControl value and configure it to ‘similar=deny retry=3 min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,15’.

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host run the following commands:

Get-VMHost | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name Security.PasswordQualityControl | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value ‘similar=deny retry=3 min=disabled,disabled,disabled,disabled,15’

Supportive Information

The following resource is also helpful.

• https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMware_vSphere_6-0_ESXi_V1R5_STIG.zip

This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: Identification and Authentication.This control applies to the following type of system VMware.

References

• 800-53|IA-5(1)(a)
• CAT|II
• CCI|CCI-000192
• Group-ID|V-63231
• Rule-ID|SV-77721r1_rule
• STIG-ID|ESXI-06-000031
• Vuln-ID|V-63231

Source

• Tenable.com/audits