VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide

The VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide (V2 R3) has 107 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

V2 · R3

CurrentPublished Wed Sep 30 2026 What changed in V2R3

The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to disallow authentication with an empty password.

VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to disallow authentication with an empty password.

Description

Discussion Text

Blank passwords are one of the first things an attacker checks for when probing a system. Even if the user somehow has a blank password on the OS, SSH must not allow that user to log in.

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

Objective

V-258870

Rule

SV-258870r991591_rule

Severity

high

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000207

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

At the command line, run the following command to verify the running configuration of sshd:

# sshd -T|&grep -i PermitEmptyPasswords

Example result:

permitemptypasswords no

If "PermitEmptyPasswords" is not set to "no", this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Navigate to and open:

/etc/ssh/sshd_config

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

PermitEmptyPasswords no

At the command line, run the following command:

# systemctl restart sshd.service

STIG check 70 of 107 in the VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 STIG checklist

← Previous · V-258869The Photon operating system must enforce a delay of at least four seconds between logon prompts following a failed logon attempt.Next · V-258871 →The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to disable user environment processing.