STIGUI
V-258966CAT II — Medium severitySV-258966r961863_rule

The vCenter Server must not override port group settings at the port level on distributed switches.

Rule version VCSA-80-000301 · STIG v2 · 2026-09-10

Discussion

Port-level configuration overrides are disabled by default. Once enabled, this allows for different security settings to be set from what is established at the Port Group level. If overrides are not monitored, anyone who gains access to a VM with a less secure VDS configuration could exploit that broader access.

If there are cases where particular VMs require unique configurations then a different port group with the required configuration should be created instead of overriding port group settings.

Check

If distributed switches are not used, this is not applicable.

From the vSphere Client, go to "Networking".

Select a distributed switch >> Select a distributed port group >> Configure >> Settings >> Properties.

Review the "Override port policies".

or

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

(Get-VDPortgroup).ExtensionData.Config.Policy

If there are any distributed port groups that allow overridden port policies, this is a finding.

Note: This does not apply to the "Block Ports" or "Configure reset at disconnect" policies.

Fix

From the vSphere Client, go to "Networking".

Select a distributed switch >> Select a distributed port group >> Configure >> Settings >> Properties.

Click "Edit".

Select advanced and update all port policies besides "Block Ports" to "disabled" and click "OK".

or

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

$pgs = Get-VDPortgroup | Get-View ForEach($pg in $pgs){ $spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.DVPortgroupConfigSpec $spec.configversion = $pg.Config.ConfigVersion $spec.Policy = New-Object VMware.Vim.VMwareDVSPortgroupPolicy $spec.Policy.VlanOverrideAllowed = $False $spec.Policy.UplinkTeamingOverrideAllowed = $False $spec.Policy.SecurityPolicyOverrideAllowed = $False $spec.Policy.IpfixOverrideAllowed = $False $spec.Policy.BlockOverrideAllowed = $True $spec.Policy.ShapingOverrideAllowed = $False $spec.Policy.VendorConfigOverrideAllowed = $False $spec.Policy.TrafficFilterOverrideAllowed = $False $pg.ReconfigureDVPortgroup_Task($spec) }

Identifiers

Group ID
V-258966
Group title
SRG-APP-000516
Rule ID
SV-258966r961863_rule
Check ID
C-62706r934554_chk
Fix ID
F-62615r934555_fix