VMware ESXi
TMA-ESXI9-3.6
Host should deactivate SNMP
Description
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) facilitates the management of networked devices. Minimize attack surface by disabling non-essential services. The recommended setting is to have the SNMP service stopped unless required and configured securely. The audit runs esxcli system snmp get and requires "Enable: false". When SNMP is required, document the exception and apply 6.4.1. Runs in the ESXi Shell (busybox sh) as root.
How it is checked
Audit method: Shell command
out=$(esxcli system snmp get 2>/dev/null) || exit 1
v=$(printf '%s\n' "$out" | awk -F': *' 'tolower($1) ~ /^ *enable$/ {print $2; exit}' | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' | sed 's/ *$//')
if [ "$v" = false ]; then echo compliant; else echo "SNMP Enable: ${v:-not reported}"; fi- Expected output
compliant
How it is fixed
Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch
1. Disable SNMP when not required with: esxcli system snmp set --enable false If SNMP is required, restrict targets/communities, prefer secure SNMP configurations supported by the environment, and limit the ESXi firewall ruleset to authorized management networks.
Properties
- Operating systems
- Any
- Tags
- vmwareesximanagement
- Reference
- CIS VMware ESXi 9.0 Benchmark v1.0.0 - 3.6 Host should deactivate SNMP
Check this host
Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.
tmaegis scan --target vmware