Virtual Machine should enable encryption at host

High Azure General vm-encryption

Applies to

Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines

What CGPulse checks

A resource passes this rule when encryptionAtHost must equal true. Anything else is reported as a finding with the evaluated property value attached as evidence.

How to fix it

Enable encryption at host to encrypt temp disks and disk caches at rest. In Azure Portal: VM > Disks > Additional settings > enable Encryption at host. See: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/disk-encryption#encryption-at-host

Careful: Requires 'EncryptionAtHost' feature to be registered on the subscription first

CLI

az vm update --ids "{id}" --set securityProfile.encryptionAtHost=true

Terraform

resource "azurerm_linux_virtual_machine" "{name}" {
  name                       = "{name}"
  resource_group_name        = "{rg}"
  location                   = var.location
  size                       = "Standard_D2s_v5"
  network_interface_ids      = [azurerm_network_interface.{name}.id]
  admin_username             = "azureuser"
  encryption_at_host_enabled = true
  os_disk {
    caching              = "ReadWrite"
    storage_account_type = "Standard_LRS"
  }
  # Requires EncryptionAtHost feature registered on the subscription
}

Compliance frameworks

Vendor documentation

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