STIGQter: STIG Summary: VMware vSphere 8.0 vCenter Appliance Photon OS 4.0 Security Technical Implementation Guide Version: 2 Release: 2 Benchmark Date: 01 Jul 2026:

The Photon operating system must be configured to protect the Secure Shell (SSH) public host key from unauthorized modification.

DISA Rule

SV-258895r991589_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-258895

Group Title

SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000233

Severity

CAT II

CCI(s)

CCI-000366 - Implement the security configuration settings.

Weight

Fix Recommendation

At the command line, run the following commands for each returned file:

# chmod 644 <file>
# chown root:root <file>
# systemctl restart sshd.service

Check Contents

At the command line, run the following command:

# stat -c "%n permissions are %a and owned by %U:%G" /etc/ssh/*key.pub

Example result:

/etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub permissions are 644 and owned by root:root
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key.pub permissions are 644 and owned by root:root
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub permissions are 644 and owned by root:root
/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub permissions are 644 and owned by root:root

If any "key.pub" file listed is not owned by root or not group owned by root or does not have permissions of "0644", this is a finding.

Vulnerability Number

V-258895

Documentable

False

Rule Version

PHTN-40-000233

Severity Override Guidance

Check Content Reference

Target Key

5569