VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS Security Technical Implementation Guide

The VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS Security Technical Implementation Guide (V1 R5) has 113 STIG checks. New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist?, CKL vs CKLB, and STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

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Severity

Version

V1 · R5

CurrentPublished Wed Sep 30 2026 What changed in V1R5

The Photon operating system must configure sshd to disable X11 forwarding.

VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

The Photon operating system must configure sshd to disable X11 forwarding.

Description

Discussion Text

X11 is an older, insecure graphics forwarding protocol. It is not used by Photon and should be disabled as a general best practice to limit attack surface area and communication channels.

New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist? and CKL vs CKLB.

Objective

V-256549

Rule

SV-256549r1268251_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

PHTN-30-000080

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

At the command line, run the following command:

# sshd -T|&grep -i X11Forwarding

Expected result:

X11Forwarding no

If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Navigate to and open:

/etc/ssh/sshd_config

Ensure the "X11Forwarding" line is uncommented and set to the following:

X11Forwarding no

At the command line, run the following command:

# systemctl restart sshd.service

STIG check 72 of 113 in the VMware vSphere 7.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS STIG checklist

← Previous · V-256548The Photon operating system must configure sshd to disable environment processing.Next · V-256550 →The Photon operating system must configure sshd to perform strict mode checking of home directory configuration files.