The ESXi host SSH daemon must be configured with the DoW logon banner.

The warning message reinforces policy awareness during the logon process and facilitates possible legal action against attackers. Alternatively, systems whose ownership should not be obvious should ensure use of a banner that does not provide easy attribution.

From an ESXi shell, run the following command:

# /usr/lib/vmware/openssh/bin/sshd -T|grep banner

Expected result:

banner /etc/issue

If the output does not match the expected result, this is a finding.

From an ESXi shell, add or correct the following line in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config":

Banner /etc/issue