VM : verify-PCI-Passthrough

Information

Audit all uses of PCI or PCIe passthrough functionality.
Using the VMware DirectPath I/O feature to pass through a PCI or PCIe device to a virtual machine results in a potential security vulnerability. The vulnerability can be triggered by buggy or malicious code running in privileged mode in the guest OS, such as a device driver. Industry-standard hardware and firmware does not currently have sufficient error containment support to make it possible for ESXi to close the vulnerability fully.

There can be a valid business reason for a VM to have this configured. This is an audit-only guideline. You should be aware of what virtual machines are configured with direct passthrough of PCI and PCIe devices and ensure that their guest OS is monitored carefully for malicious or buggy drivers that could crash the host.
http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/topic/com.vmware.powercli.ug.doc/GUID-0E922C7E-67DF-4A05-B4C0-013FC4EC60F4.html

Solution

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

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-7b.

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 2ccea32e325ed60de515ba89515dbb3c35e2a24d371464f873283a4ea9d38c53