Information
Prevent unauthorized removal and modification of devices.
*Rationale*
In a virtual machine, users and processes without root or administrator privileges can
connect or disconnect devices, such as network adaptors and CD-ROM drives, and can
modify device settings. Use the virtual machine settings editor or configuration editor to
remove unneeded or unused hardware devices. If you want to use the device again, you can
prevent a user or running process in the virtual machine from connecting, disconnecting, or
modifying a device from within the guest operating system. By default, a rogue user with
nonadministrator privileges in a virtual machine can:
1. Connect a disconnected CD-ROM drive and access sensitive information on the media left
in the drive
2. Disconnect a network adaptor to isolate the virtual machine from its network, which is a
denial of service
3. Modify settings on a device
Solution
To implement the recommended configuration state, run the following PowerCLI
command-# Add the setting to all VMs
Get-VM | New-AdvancedSetting -Name 'isolation.device.edit.disable' -value $true
Impact-Device interaction is blocked inside the guest OS using VMware tools.
Default Value-The prescribed state is not the default state.