7.7 (L1) Virtual machines must limit PCI/PCIe device passthrough functionality

Information

DirectPath I/O features provide virtual machines the ability to directly access system hardware, which while advantageous for performance, can impact risk mitigation tools like vMotion, DRS, and High Availability. It also opens up a potential attack vector for privileged hardware access. It is crucial to ensure that only necessary VMs have this privilege and that compensatory measures are taken within the guest OS to enhance security.

Limiting PCI/PCIe device passthrough functionality is essential for minimizing potential attack vectors and ensuring that risk mitigation tools function as intended. Moreover, audit and documentation of the business need for these VMs are critical for maintaining a secure and compliant environment.

Solution

The following PowerCLI command can be used:

# Add the setting to all VMs
Get-VM | New-AdvancedSetting -Name "pciPassthru*.present" -value ""

Impact:

Passthrough devices, like GPUs, may be adversely affected if disconnected. It's imperative to audit and document the business rationale for VMs requiring this functionality to understand the associated risks and ensure adequate compensatory controls are in place.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/15784

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6, 800-53|CM-7, CSCv7|9.2

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 0344bf99232c41f15fc3160facc09d35efd4965dd7abacf6ab1c00488eab781a