8.4.17 Ensure Guest Host Interaction Tray Icon is disabled

Information

The Guest Host Interaction Tray Icon feature should be disabled if it is not needed.

*Rationale*

Some VMX parameters don't apply on vSphere because VMware virtual machines work on
vSphere and hosted virtualization platforms such as Workstation and Fusion. The code
paths for these features are not implemented in ESXi. Explicitly disabling these features
reduces the potential for vulnerabilities because it reduces the number of ways in which a
guest can affect the host. Note that these are referenced for organizations that insist any
documented setting, regardless of whether it is implemented in code or not, must have a
value.

Solution

To disable the Guest Host Interaction Tray Icon feature, run the following PowerCLI command:

# Add the setting to all VMs
Get-VM | New-AdvancedSetting -Name 'isolation.tools.ghi.trayicon.disable' -value $true

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2168

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY

References: 800-53|SI-4, CSCv7|9.2

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 2321b8792d43c3de654ecc96b74b967abf13497e63c2790e9ac135d6c61a7103