VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Secure Token Service (STS) STIG Version Comparison

There are 3 differences between versions v1 r1 (Oct. 31, 2023) (the "left" version) and v2 r1 (Aug. 1, 2024) (the "right" version).

Check VCST-80-000138 was added to the benchmark in the "right" version.

This check's original form is available here.

Title

The vCenter STS service deployXML attribute must be disabled.

Check Content

At the command prompt, run the following command: # xmllint --xpath "//Host/@deployXML" /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/server.xml Expected result: deployXML="false" If "deployXML" does not equal "false", this is a finding.

Discussion

The Host element controls deployment. Automatic deployment allows for simpler management but also makes it easier for an attacker to deploy a malicious application. Automatic deployment is controlled by the autoDeploy and deployOnStartup attributes. If both are false, only Contexts defined in server.xml will be deployed, and any changes will require a Tomcat restart. In a hosted environment where web applications may not be trusted, set the deployXML attribute to "false" to ignore any context.xml packaged with the web application that may try to assign increased privileges to the web application. Note that if the security manager is enabled, the deployXML attribute will default to false.

Fix

Navigate to and open: /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/server.xml Navigate to the <Host> node and configure with the value "deployXML="false"". Restart the service with the following command: # vmon-cli --restart sts