VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 STIG Version Comparison

There are 7 differences between versions v1 r1 (Oct. 31, 2023) (the "left" version) and v2 r1 (Aug. 1, 2024) (the "right" version).

Check PHTN-40-000237 was added to the benchmark in the "right" version.

This check's original form is available here.

Title

The Photon operating system must configure AIDE to detect changes to baseline configurations.

Check Content

At the command line, run the following commands to verify AIDE is configured and used to monitor for file changes: # grep -v '^#' /etc/aide.conf | grep -v '^$' Example result: STIG = p+i+n+u+g+s+m+S LOGS = p+n+u+g /boot STIG /opt STIG /usr STIG /etc STIG /var/log LOGS If the AIDE configuration does not include the lines shown above, this is a finding. At the command line, run the following commands to verify an AIDE database is configured and used to monitor for file changes: # aide --check If the check command indicates there is no database available, this is a finding.

Discussion

Unauthorized changes to the baseline configuration could make the system vulnerable to various attacks or allow unauthorized access to the operating system. Changes to operating system configurations can have unintended side effects, some of which may be relevant to security. Detecting such changes and providing an automated response can help avoid unintended, negative consequences that could ultimately affect the security state of the operating system. The operating system's information system security manager (ISSM)/information system security officer (ISSO) and system administrators (SAs) must be notified via email and/or monitoring system trap when there is an unauthorized modification of a configuration item.

Fix

Update the /etc/aide.conf file with the template provided as a supplemental document. At the command line, run the following commands to generate an AIDE database to use for file monitoring: # aide --init # cp /var/lib/aide/aide.db.new.gz /var/lib/aide/aide.db.gz Note: It is recommended to run these fix steps after all other STIG configurations have been completed so that the AIDE database includes those updates.