vSphere UI must set the secure flag for cookies.

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. vSphere UI is configured to only be accessible over a Transport Layer Security (TLS) tunnel, but this cookie flag is still a recommended best practice.

At the command prompt, run the following command:

# xmllint --format /usr/lib/vmware-vsphere-ui/server/conf/web.xml | sed 's/xmlns=".*"//g' | xmllint --xpath '/web-app/session-config/cookie-config/secure' - 

Expected result:

<secure>true</secure>

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

Navigate to and open:

/usr/lib/vmware-vsphere-ui/server/conf/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> 

Restart the service with the following command:

# vmon-cli --restart vsphere-ui