Patching ESXi 5.5 for Heartbleed without installing Update 1

Patching with VMware Update Manager

There are a number of methods for patching ESXi hosts, and the most commonly used is VMware Update Manager (VUM). VUM will present a pair of Dynamic Baselines which will be automatically updated when patches are available. The danger in this case is that VUM may show you both the Pre-Update 1 patch, as well as the Post-Update 1 patch. If you are not careful as to which patches you apply, you might accidentally end up patching your host to Post-Update 1.

Here are the patches which were released on April 19th, as seen in VUM. The Update 1 patch is highlighted in red, while the Pre-Update 1 patch is marked in green.

Note: VMware also released two other ESXi 5.5 patches on April 19th, as part of Patch Release but these are not related to the Heartbleed vulnerability in any fashion. (ESXi550-201404402-BG, and ESXi550-201404403-BG).

Creating a Fixed Baseline

Patching a host using ESXi550-201404420-SG (Pre-Update 1), while avoiding ESXi550-201404401-SG (Post-Update 1) requires the use of a Fixed Baseline in Update Manager.

1. Start in the Update Manager Admin view.
2. Select the Baselines and Groups tab.
3. Click Create… in the Baselines column.
   
4. Give the new Baseline a descriptive Name (and optionally a Description).
   
5. Click Next.
6. For Baseline type, select Fixed.
   
7. Use the Search feature to find the only Patch we want to apply. You will need to select the Patch ID option from the dropdown menu to ensure the search scans for the appropriate column.
   
8. Enter the Patch ID into the search field: ESXi550-201404420-SG and click Enter to search.
9. Select the Patch which shows up in the filtered list, and click the Down Arrow to move it into the selected Baselines.
   
10. Click Next and confirm that the Patch ESXi550-201404420-SG is the only one selected.
    
11. Click Finish.

The Baseline is now created and available for use.

Remediating a Host using the Fixed Baseline

Once the Fixed Baseline has been created, we can use it to Scan and Remediate an ESXi host.

1. Select the host you wish to patch, and place it into Maintenance Mode.
2. Click the Update Manager tab.
3. Make sure that there are no Dynamic Baselines attached to the host you wish to patch. Detach any baselines which are currently attached:
   Critical Host Patches (Predefined)
   Non-Critical Host Patches (Predefined)
   Any other Custom Baselines which you have created
4. Click the Attach link.
   
5. Select the newly created Baseline and click Attach.
   
6. Click the Scan link and make sure Patches and Extensions is selected. Click Scan again.
   
7. When you are ready to patch the host, select Remediate.
8. Complete the Remediation wizard.

Once the host is patched, it will reboot automatically.