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 disable the debug-shell service.

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

Assessment Title

Rule Text

The Photon operating system must disable the debug-shell service.

Description

Discussion Text

The debug-shell service is intended to diagnose systemd related boot issues with various systemctl commands. Once enabled and following a system reboot, the root shell will be available on tty9. This service must remain disabled until and unless otherwise directed by VMware support.

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

Objective

V-258873

Rule

SV-258873r991589_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000210

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 debug-shell service is disabled:

# systemctl status debug-shell.service

If the debug-shell service is not stopped and disabled, this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

At the command line, run the following commands:

# systemctl stop debug-shell.service
# systemctl disable debug-shell.service

STIG check 73 of 107 in the VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 STIG checklist

← Previous · V-258872The Photon operating system must create a home directory for all new local interactive user accounts.Next · V-258874 →The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to disallow Generic Security Service Application Program Interface (GSSAPI) authentication.