STIGUI
V-258942CAT II — Medium severitySV-258942r961863_rule

The vCenter Server must configure the "vpxuser" auto-password to be changed every 30 days.

Rule version VCSA-80-000275 · STIG v2 · 2026-09-10

Discussion

By default, vCenter will change the "vpxuser" password automatically every 30 days. Ensure this setting meets site policies. If it does not, configure it to meet password aging policies.

Note: It is very important the password aging policy is not shorter than the default interval that is set to automatically change the "vpxuser" password to preclude the possibility that vCenter might be locked out of an ESXi host.

Check

From the vSphere Client, go to Host and Clusters.

Select a vCenter Server >> Configure >> Settings >> Advanced Settings.

Verify that "VirtualCenter.VimPasswordExpirationInDays" is set to "30".

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the vCenter server, run the following command:

Get-AdvancedSetting -Entity <vcenter server name> -Name VirtualCenter.VimPasswordExpirationInDays

If the "VirtualCenter.VimPasswordExpirationInDays" is set to a value other than "30" or does not exist, this is a finding.

Fix

From the vSphere Client, go to Host and Clusters.

Select a vCenter Server >> Configure >> Settings >> Advanced Settings.

Click "Edit Settings" and configure the "VirtualCenter.VimPasswordExpirationInDays" value to "30" or if the value does not exist create it by entering the values in the "Key" and "Value" fields and clicking "Add".

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the vCenter server, run the following command:

If the setting already exists:

Get-AdvancedSetting -Entity <vcenter server name> -Name VirtualCenter.VimPasswordExpirationInDays | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 30

If the setting does not exist:

New-AdvancedSetting -Entity <vcenter server name> -Name VirtualCenter.VimPasswordExpirationInDays -Value 30

Identifiers

Group ID
V-258942
Group title
SRG-APP-000516
Rule ID
SV-258942r961863_rule
Check ID
C-62682r934482_chk
Fix ID
F-62591r934483_fix