Running commands on an ESXi host fails with "Operation not Permitted" error

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

When executing commands in the ESXi shell, most commands fail with the following error:
-sh: <cmd>: Operation not permitted

Note: The esxtop and vm-support commands remain executable.

Environment

VMware ESXi 8.x

Cause

This is expected behavior in environments where the ESXi Shell Sandbox option is enabled.

Resolution

Run the following command to verify the current setting:
esxcfg-advcfg --get /UserVars/ShellSandboxEnabled

A value of 1 indicates that the Shell Sandbox is enabled.
Example output: Value of ShellSandboxEnabled is 1

To execute commands when the Shell Sandbox is enabled, use the supershell utility with the following syntax:
supershell -c "<cmd>"

Additional Information

For more details on the Shell Sandbox feature, refer to SSH Daemon Sandboxing VOB in vSphere 8.0 release.