RHEL7.6: Executing systemd "*ctl" commands ("timedatectl", "hostnamectl", etc) using VMWare tools facility ("vmrun") take 25 seconds to complete then fail

Issue

• When executing timedatectl, hostnamectl or loginctl commands using vmrun on the hypervisor, the commands takes 25 seconds to complete then return a failure, and a SELinux USER_AVC is seen

  • Hypervisor command (example)

    $ vmrun -T player -gu root -gp PASSWD runProgramInGuest "/path/to/VM/disk.vmx" /bin/hostnamectl set-hostname myVM
    Guest program exited with non-zero exit code: 1
    

  • AVC

    # ausearch -m USER_AVC -ts recent
    ----
    time->SOME_DATE
    type=USER_AVC msg=audit(TIMESTAMP:ID): pid=XXX uid=81 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=system_u:system_r:system_dbusd_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023 msg='avc:  denied  { send_msg } for msgtype=method_return dest=:1.27 spid=YYY tpid=ZZZ scontext=system_u:system_r:systemd_hostnamed_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:system_r:vmtools_t:s0 tclass=dbus  exe="/usr/bin/dbus-daemon" sauid=81 hostname=? addr=? terminal=?'