The SSH daemon must not allow authentication using an empty password.

From VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Part of SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000

Associated with: CCI-000366

SV-77689r1_rule The SSH daemon must not allow authentication using an empty password.

Vulnerability discussion

Configuring this setting for the SSH daemon provides additional assurance that remote login via SSH will require a password, even in the event of misconfiguration elsewhere.

Check content

To verify how the SSH daemon's "PermitEmptyPasswords" option is set, run the following command: # grep -i "^PermitEmptyPasswords" /etc/ssh/sshd_config If there is no output or the output is not exactly "PermitEmptyPasswords no", this is a finding.

Fix text

To explicitly disallow remote login from accounts with empty passwords, add or correct the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config": PermitEmptyPasswords no

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