The ESXi host Secure Shell (SSH) daemon must perform strict mode checking of home directory configuration files.

If other users have access to modify user-specific SSH configuration files, they may be able to log on the system as another user.

From an ESXi shell, run the following command:

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

Expected result:

strictmodes yes

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":

StrictModes yes