VCEM-67-000028 - ESX Agent Manager must set the secure flag for cookies.

Information

The secure flag is an option that can be set by the application server when sending a new cookie to the user within an HTTP Response. The purpose of the secure flag is to prevent cookies from being observed by unauthorized parties due to the transmission of a cookie in clear text. By setting the secure flag, the browser will prevent the transmission of a cookie over an unencrypted channel. The ESX Agent Manager is configured to only be accessible over a TLS tunnel, but this cookie flag is still a recommended best practice.

Solution

Navigate to and open:

/usr/lib/vmware-eam/web/webapps/eam/WEB-INF/web.xml

Navigate to the /<web-apps>/<session-config>/<cookie-config> node and configure it as follows:

<cookie-config>
<http-only>true</http-only>
<secure>true</secure>
</cookie-config>

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMW_vSphere_6-7_Y23M07_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-5(1), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-001813, Rule-ID|SV-239399r879753_rule, STIG-ID|VCEM-67-000028, Vuln-ID|V-239399

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 8b4e850c88b8103ef318a06eca184bebee475aea7c25216b634b1a73b592204b