The macOS system must disable root logon for SSH.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-259472	APPL-14-001100	SV-259472r941038_rule		Medium

Description

If SSH is enabled to ensure individual accountability and prevent unauthorized access, logging in as root via SSH must be disabled. The macOS system must require individuals to be authenticated with an individual authenticator prior to using a group authenticator, and administrator users must never log in directly as root. Note: /etc/ssh/sshd_config will be automatically modified to its original state following any update or major upgrade to the operating system. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000109-GPOS-00056,SRG-OS-000364-GPOS-00151

STIG	Date
Apple macOS 14 (Sonoma) Security Technical Implementation Guide	2024-01-10

Details

Check Text ( C-63211r941036_chk )
Verify the macOS system is configured to disable root login for SSH with the following command: /usr/sbin/sshd -G | /usr/bin/awk '/permitrootlogin/{print $2}' If the result is not "no", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-63119r941037_fix)

Configure the macOS system to disable root login for SSH with the following command: include_dir=$(/usr/bin/awk '/^Include/ {print $2}' /etc/ssh/sshd_config | /usr/bin/tr -d '*') if [[ -z $include_dir ]]; then /usr/bin/sed -i.bk "1s/.*/Include \/etc\/ssh\/sshd_config.d\/\*/" /etc/ssh/sshd_config fi /usr/bin/grep -qxF 'permitrootlogin no' "${include_dir}01-mscp-sshd.conf" 2>/dev/null || echo "permitrootlogin no" >> "${include_dir}01-mscp-sshd.conf" for file in $(ls ${include_dir}); do if [[ "$file" == "100-macos.conf" ]]; then continue fi if [[ "$file" == "01-mscp-sshd.conf" ]]; then break fi /bin/mv ${include_dir}${file} ${include_dir}20-${file} done