Active Directory ESX Admin group membership must be verified unused.

From VMware ESXi Server 5.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-000366

SV-51207r1_rule Active Directory ESX Admin group membership must be verified unused.

Vulnerability discussion

When adding ESXi hosts to Active Directory, if the group "ESX Admins" exists, all user/group accounts assigned to the group will have full administrative access to the host. Discretion should be used when managing membership to the "ESX Admins" group.

Check content

For systems that do not use Active Directory and have no local user accounts, other than root and/or vpxuser, this check is not applicable. For systems that do not use Active Directory and do have local user accounts, other than root and/or vpxuser, this check is a finding. From the vSphere Client/vCenter, select the host, then Configuration >> Software/Advanced Settings >> HostAgent. Verify "Config.HostAgent.plugins.hostsvc.esxAdminsGroup" is not set to "ESX Admins". If the "Config.HostAgent.plugins.hostsvc.esxAdminsGroup" keyword is set to "ESX Admins", this is a finding.

Fix text

From the vSphere Client/vCenter, select the host, then Configuration >> Software/Advanced Settings >> HostAgent. Change the "Config.HostAgent.plugins.hostsvc.esxAdminsGroup" to a pre-defined group other than the default "ESX Admins". Note: The new administrator group must have been previously defined on the Active Directory server.

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