How to disable root shell access on ESXi and vCenter Server

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Due to some company cybersecurity policies, customers need to disable root ssh to ESXi/vCenter permission.

This article shows how to disable root shell access on ESXi

Environment

ESXi 7.0.x

ESXi 8.0.x

vCenter Server 7.0.x

vCenter Server 8.0.x

Cause

N/A

Resolution

Before the operation, make sure there is a super user with the same permissions as the root account.

1. SSH to ESXi host or vCenter Server using the root account, edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config using blew command: vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
   
2. Find the parameter "permitrootlogin yes" and change it to "permitrootlogin no". 
3. Finally, save and quit this file  esc :wq!
4. Restart SSH service using the blew command:   
   

   /etc/init.d/SSH restart

Additional Information

If you want to change back the previous SSH permission, only reset the parameter to "permitrootlogin yes"