VM : disable-unexposed-features-memsfss

Information

Disable certain unexposed features.
Because VMware virtual machines are designed to work on both vSphere as well as hosted virtualization platforms such as Workstation and Fusion, there are some VMX parameters that dont apply when running on vSphere. Although the functionality governed by these parameters is not exposed on ESX, explicitly disabling them will reduce the potential for vulnerabilities. Disabling these features reduces the number of vectors through which a guest can attempt to influence the host, and thus may help prevent successful exploits.

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.security.doc/GUID-60E83710-8295-41A2-9C9D-83DEBB6872C2.html

Solution

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

See Also

https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/files/xls/vSphere_6_0_Hardening_Guide_GA_15_Jun_2015.xls

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-7

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: bc12936498629faa83281df4687e263184f543dbf4ca25bc377842f2c6ddd4a5