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 restrict AllowTcpForwarding.

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 restrict AllowTcpForwarding.

Description

Discussion Text

While enabling TCP tunnels is a valuable function of sshd, this feature is not appropriate for use on single purpose appliances.

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

Objective

V-258883

Rule

SV-258883r991589_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000220

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 AllowTcpForwarding

Example result:

allowtcpforwarding no

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

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Navigate to and open:

/etc/ssh/sshd_config

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

AllowTcpForwarding no

At the command line, run the following command:

# systemctl restart sshd.service

STIG check 83 of 107 in the VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 STIG checklist

← Previous · V-258882The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to limit the number of allowed login attempts per connection.Next · V-258884 →The Photon operating system must configure Secure Shell (SSH) to restrict LoginGraceTime.