V-230838 | High | The macOS system must use multifactor authentication for local access to privileged and non-privileged accounts. | Without the use of multifactor authentication, the ease of access to privileged and non-privileged functions is greatly increased.
Multifactor authentication requires using two or more factors to... |
V-230830 | High | The macOS system must issue or obtain public key certificates under an appropriate certificate policy from an approved service provider. | DoD-approved certificates must be installed to the System Keychain so they will be available to all users.
For user certificates, each organization obtains certificates from an approved, shared... |
V-230808 | High | The macOS system must be configured to disable the system preference pane for Apple ID. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230813 | High | Apple macOS must be configured to disable the tftp service. | The "tftp" service must be disabled as it sends all data in a clear-text form that can be easily intercepted and read. The data needs to be protected at all times during transmission, and... |
V-230829 | High | The macOS system must use an approved antivirus program. | An approved antivirus product must be installed and configured to run.
Malicious software can establish a base on individual desktops and servers. Employing an automated mechanism to detect this... |
V-230844 | High | The macOS system must be configured with the sudoers file configured to authenticate users on a per -tty basis. | The "sudo" command must be configured to prompt for the administrator's password at least once in each newly opened Terminal window or remote logon session, as this prevents a malicious user from... |
V-230823 | High | The macOS system must enforce access restrictions. | Failure to provide logical access restrictions associated with changes to system configuration may have significant effects on the overall security of the system.
When dealing with access... |
V-230824 | High | The macOS system must have the security assessment policy subsystem enabled. | Any changes to the hardware, software, and/or firmware components of the information system and/or application can potentially have significant effects on the overall security of the... |
V-230755 | High | The macOS system must be integrated into a directory services infrastructure. | Distinct user account databases on each separate system cause problems with username and password policy enforcement. Most approved directory services infrastructure solutions allow centralized... |
V-230839 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured so that the login command requires smart card authentication. | Configuring the operating system to implement organization-wide security implementation guides and security checklists ensures compliance with federal standards and establishes a common security... |
V-230833 | Medium | The macOS system must prohibit password reuse for a minimum of five generations. | Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force attacks. If the information system or application allows the... |
V-230832 | Medium | The macOS system must enforce a 60-day maximum password lifetime restriction. | Any password, no matter how complex, can eventually be cracked. Therefore, passwords need to be changed periodically.
One method of minimizing this risk is to use complex passwords and... |
V-230831 | Medium | The macOS system must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one numeric character be used. | Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in... |
V-230837 | Medium | Apple macOS must be configured with a firmware password to prevent access to single user mode and booting from alternative media. | Single user mode and the boot picker, as well as numerous other tools are available on macOS through booting while holding the "Option" key down. Setting a firmware password restricts access to... |
V-230836 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to prevent displaying password hints. | Password hints leak information about passwords in use and can lead to loss of confidentiality. |
V-230835 | Medium | The macOS system must enforce password complexity by requiring that at least one special character be used. | Use of a complex password helps to increase the time and resources required to compromise the password. Password complexity or strength is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting... |
V-230834 | Medium | The macOS system must enforce a minimum 15-character password length. | The minimum password length must be set to 15 characters. Password complexity, or strength, is a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting attempts at guessing and brute-force... |
V-230745 | Medium | The macOS system must initiate the session lock no more than five seconds after a screen saver is started. | A screen saver must be enabled and set to require a password to unlock. An excessive grace period impacts the ability for a session to be truly locked, requiring authentication to unlock. |
V-230744 | Medium | The macOS system must retain the session lock until the user reestablishes access using established identification and authentication procedures. | Users must be prompted to enter their passwords when unlocking the screen saver. The screen saver acts as a session lock and prevents unauthorized users from accessing the current user's account. |
V-230747 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to lock the user session when a smart token is removed. | A session lock is a temporary action taken when a user stops work and moves away from the immediate physical vicinity of the information system but does not want to log out because of the... |
V-230746 | Medium | The macOS system must initiate a session lock after a 15-minute period of inactivity. | A screen saver must be enabled and set to require a password to unlock. The timeout should be set to 15 minutes of inactivity. This mitigates the risk that a user might forget to manually lock the... |
V-230743 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to prevent Apple Watch from terminating a session lock. | Users must be prompted to enter their passwords when unlocking the screen saver. The screen saver acts as a session lock and prevents unauthorized users from accessing the current user's account. |
V-230749 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable hot corners. | Although hot corners can be used to initiate a session lock or launch useful applications, they can also be configured to disable an automatic session lock from initiating. Such a configuration... |
V-230809 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the system preference pane for Internet Accounts. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230806 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable Remote Apple Events. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230807 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the application Calendar. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230804 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable Siri and dictation. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230805 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable sending diagnostic and usage data to Apple. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230802 | Medium | The macOS system must cover or disable the built-in or attached camera when not in use. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-245546 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the system preference pane for Siri. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-245545 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the system preference pane for TouchID. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-245548 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the system preference pane for Wallet & ApplePay. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230811 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the Privacy Setup services. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230810 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the Cloud Setup services. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230812 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the Cloud Storage Setup services. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230815 | Medium | The macOS system must disable iCloud Keychain synchronization. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230814 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the Siri Setup services. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230819 | Medium | The macOS system must disable the Screen Sharing feature. | The Screen Sharing feature allows remote users to view or control the desktop of the current user. A malicious user can take advantage of screen sharing to gain full access to the system remotely,... |
V-230818 | Medium | The macOS system must disable iCloud photo library. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230792 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable Internet Sharing. | To prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must disable or... |
V-230793 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable Web Sharing. | To prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must disable or... |
V-230790 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable Bonjour multicast advertising. | To prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must disable or... |
V-230791 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the UUCP service. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230781 | Medium | The macOS system must allocate audit record storage capacity to store at least one week's worth of audit records when audit records are not immediately sent to a central audit record storage facility. | The audit service must be configured to require that records are kept for seven days or longer before deletion when there is no central audit record storage facility. When "expire-after" is set to... |
V-230780 | Medium | The macOS system must audit the enforcement actions used to restrict access associated with changes to the system. | By auditing access restriction enforcement, changes to application and OS configuration files can be audited. Without auditing the enforcement of access restrictions, it will be difficult to... |
V-230783 | Medium | The macOS system must provide an immediate real-time alert to the System Administrator (SA) and Information System Security Officer (ISSO), at a minimum, of all audit failure events requiring real-time alerts. | The audit service should be configured to immediately print messages to the console or email administrator users when an auditing failure occurs. It is critical for the appropriate personnel to be... |
V-230782 | Medium | The macOS system must provide an immediate warning to the System Administrator (SA) and Information System Security Officer (ISSO) (at a minimum) when allocated audit record storage volume reaches 75 percent of repository maximum audit record storage capacity. | The audit service must be configured to require a minimum percentage of free disk space in order to run. This ensures that audit will notify the administrator that action is required to free up... |
V-230785 | Medium | The macOS system must accept and verify Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials, implement a local cache of revocation data to support path discovery and validation in case of the inability to access revocation information via the network, and only allow the use of DoD PKI-established certificate authorities to verify the establishment of protected sessions. | The use of PIV credentials facilitates standardization and reduces the risk of unauthorized access.
Without configuring a local cache of... |
V-230784 | Medium | The macOS system must generate audit records for DoD-defined events such as successful/unsuccessful logon attempts, successful/unsuccessful direct access attempts, starting and ending time for user access, and concurrent logons to the same account from different sources. | Without generating audit records that are specific to the security and mission needs of the organization, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an... |
V-230787 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable SMB File Sharing unless it is required. | File Sharing is usually non-essential and must be disabled if not required. Enabling any service increases the attack surface for an intruder. By disabling unnecessary services, the attack surface... |
V-230786 | Medium | The macOS system must require individuals to be authenticated with an individual authenticator prior to using a group authenticator. | Administrator users must never log in directly as root. To assure individual accountability and prevent unauthorized access, logging in as root over a remote connection must be disabled.... |
V-230789 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable Location Services. | To prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must disable or... |
V-230788 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable the Network File System (NFS) daemon unless it is required. | If the system does not require access to NFS file shares or is not acting as an NFS server, support for NFS is non-essential and NFS services must be disabled. NFS is a network file system... |
V-230817 | Medium | The macOS system must disable iCloud bookmark synchronization. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230816 | Medium | The macOS system must disable iCloud document synchronization. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230778 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with audit log files set to mode 440 or less permissive. | The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct permissions to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and about... |
V-230779 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with audit log folders set to mode 700 or less permissive. | The audit service must be configured to create log folders with the correct permissions to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and... |
V-230774 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with audit log files owned by root. | The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct ownership to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and users.... |
V-230775 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with audit log folders owned by root. | The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct ownership to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and about... |
V-230776 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with audit log files group-owned by wheel. | The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct group ownership to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and... |
V-230777 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with audit log folders group-owned by wheel. | The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct group ownership to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and... |
V-230770 | Medium | The macOS system must generate audit records for all account creations, modifications, disabling, and termination events; privileged activities or other system-level access; all kernel module load, unload, and restart actions; all program initiations; and organizationally defined events for all non-local maintenance and diagnostic sessions. | Without generating audit records that are specific to the security and mission needs of the organization, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an... |
V-230771 | Medium | The macOS system must monitor remote access methods and generate audit records when successful/unsuccessful attempts to access/modify privileges occur. | Frequently, an attacker that successfully gains access to a system has only gained access to an account with limited privileges, such as a guest account or a service account. The attacker must... |
V-230772 | Medium | The macOS system must initiate session audits at system startup, using internal clocks with time stamps for audit records that meet a minimum granularity of one second and can be mapped to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), to generate audit records containing information to establish what type of events occurred, the identity of any individual or process associated with the event, including individual identities of group account users, establish where the events occurred, source of the event, and outcome of the events including all account enabling actions, full-text recording of privileged commands, and information about the use of encryption for access wireless access to and from the system. | Without establishing what type of events occurred, when they occurred, and by whom it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events leading up to an outage or... |
V-230773 | Medium | The macOS system must shut down by default upon audit failure (unless availability is an overriding concern). | The audit service should shut down the computer if it is unable to audit system events. Once audit failure occurs, user and system activity is no longer recorded and malicious activity could go... |
V-230769 | Medium | The macOS system must implement an approved Key Exchange Algorithm. | Unapproved mechanisms for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified, and therefore cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, resulting in the compromise of... |
V-230768 | Medium | The macOS system must use only Message Authentication Codes (MACs) employing FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic hash algorithms. | Unapproved mechanisms for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified, and therefore cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, resulting in the compromise of... |
V-230767 | Medium | The macOS system must implement approved ciphers to protect the confidentiality of SSH connections. | Unapproved mechanisms for authentication to the cryptographic module are not verified, and therefore cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, resulting in the compromise of... |
V-230766 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with the SSH daemon LoginGraceTime set to 30 or less. | SSH should be configured to log users out after a 15-minute interval of inactivity and to wait only 30 seconds before timing out logon attempts. Terminating an idle session within a short time... |
V-230765 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with the SSH daemon ClientAliveCountMax option set to 0. | SSH should be configured with an Active Client Alive Maximum Count of 0. Terminating an idle session within a short time period reduces the window of opportunity for unauthorized personnel to take... |
V-230764 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with the SSH daemon ClientAliveInterval option set to 900 or less. | SSH should be configured to log users out after a 15-minute interval of inactivity and to wait only 30 seconds before timing out logon attempts. Terminating an idle session within a short time... |
V-230763 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured to disable password forwarding for FileVault2. | When "FileVault" and Multifactor Authentication are configured on the operating system, a dedicated user must be configured to ensure that the implemented Multifactor Authentication rules are... |
V-230762 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with dedicated user accounts to decrypt the hard disk upon startup. | When "FileVault" and Multifactor Authentication are configured on the operating system, a dedicated user must be configured to ensure that the implemented Multifactor Authentication rules are... |
V-230761 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured so that log folders must not contain access control lists (ACLs). | The audit service must be configured to create log folders with the correct permissions to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and... |
V-230760 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured so that log files must not contain access control lists (ACLs). | The audit service must be configured to create log files with the correct permissions to prevent normal users from reading audit logs. Audit logs contain sensitive data about the system and users.... |
V-230842 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with system log files owned by root and group-owned by wheel or admin. | System logs should only be readable by root or admin users. System logs frequently contain sensitive information that could be used by an attacker. Setting the correct owner mitigates this risk. |
V-230843 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with system log files set to mode 640 or less permissive. | System logs should only be readable by root or admin users. System logs frequently contain sensitive information that could be used by an attacker. Setting the correct permissions mitigates this risk. |
V-230840 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured so that the su command requires smart card authentication. | Configuring the operating system to implement organization-wide security implementation guides and security checklists ensures compliance with federal standards and establishes a common security... |
V-230841 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured so that the sudo command requires smart card authentication. | Configuring the operating system to implement organization-wide security implementation guides and security checklists ensures compliance with federal standards and establishes a common security... |
V-230846 | Medium | The macOS system must implement cryptographic mechanisms to protect the confidentiality and integrity of all information at rest. | Information at rest refers to the state of information when it is located on a secondary storage device (e.g., disk drive and tape drive) within an organizational information system. Mobile... |
V-230847 | Medium | The macOS Application Firewall must be enabled. | Firewalls protect computers from network attacks by blocking or limiting access to open network ports. Application firewalls limit which applications are allowed to communicate over the network. |
V-230845 | Medium | The macOS system must enable System Integrity Protection. | System Integrity Protection (SIP) is vital to the protection of the integrity of macOS. SIP restricts what actions can be performed by administrative users, including root, against protected parts... |
V-230828 | Medium | The macOS system must authenticate peripherals before establishing a connection. | Without authenticating devices, unidentified or unknown devices may be introduced, thereby facilitating malicious activity.
Peripherals include, but are not limited to, such devices as flash... |
V-250320 | Medium | The macOS system must restrict the ability to utilize external writeable media devices. | External writeable media devices must be disabled for users. External USB devices are a potential vector for malware and can be used to exfiltrate sensitive data. |
V-230820 | Medium | The macOS system must allow only applications that have a valid digital signature to run. | Gatekeeper settings must be configured correctly to only allow the system to run applications signed with a valid Apple Developer ID code. Administrator users will still have the option to... |
V-230825 | Medium | The macOS system must not allow an unattended or automatic logon to the system. | Failure to restrict system access to authenticated users negatively impacts operating system security. |
V-230826 | Medium | The macOS system must prohibit user installation of software without explicit privileged status. | Allowing regular users to install software, without explicit privileges, creates the risk that untested or potentially malicious software will be installed on the system. Explicit privileges... |
V-230827 | Medium | The macOS system must set permissions on user home directories to prevent users from having access to read or modify another user's files. | Configuring the operating system to use the most restrictive permissions possible for user home directories helps to protect against inadvertent disclosures.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00228,... |
V-230752 | Medium | The macOS system must automatically remove or disable temporary and emergency user accounts after 72 hours. | If temporary user accounts remain active when no longer needed or for an excessive period, these accounts may be targeted by attackers to gain unauthorized access. To mitigate this risk, automated... |
V-230753 | Medium | The macOS system must, for networked systems, compare internal information system clocks at least every 24 hours with a server that is synchronized to one of the redundant United States Naval Observatory (USNO) time servers or a time server designated for the appropriate DoD network (NIPRNet/SIPRNet) and/or the Global Positioning System (GPS). | Inaccurate time stamps make it more difficult to correlate events and can lead to an inaccurate analysis. Determining the correct time a particular event occurred on a system is critical when... |
V-230750 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured with Wi-Fi support software disabled. | Allowing devices and users to connect to or from the system without first authenticating them allows untrusted access and can lead to a compromise or attack. Since wireless communications can be... |
V-230751 | Medium | The macOS system must disable the SSHD service. | Without confidentiality and integrity protection mechanisms, unauthorized individuals may gain access to sensitive information via a remote access session.
Remote access is access to DoD... |
V-230756 | Medium | The macOS system must enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user before the user account is locked. | By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account. |
V-230757 | Medium | The macOS system must display the Standard Mandatory DoD Notice and Consent Banner before granting remote access to the operating system. | Display of a standardized and approved use notification before granting access to the operating system ensures privacy and security notification verbiage used is consistent with applicable federal... |
V-230754 | Medium | The macOS system must utilize an Endpoint Security Solution (ESS) and implement all DoD required modules. | The macOS system must employ automated mechanisms to determine the state of system components. The DoD requires the installation and use of an approved ESS to be implemented on the operating... |
V-230758 | Medium | The macOS system must display the Standard Mandatory DoD Notice and Consent Banner before granting access to the system via SSH. | Display of a standardized and approved use notification before granting access to the operating system ensures privacy and security notification verbiage used is consistent with applicable federal... |
V-230759 | Medium | The macOS system must be configured so that any connection to the system must display the Standard Mandatory DoD Notice and Consent Banner before granting GUI access to the system. | Display of a standardized and approved use notification before granting access to the operating system ensures privacy and security notification verbiage used is consistent with applicable federal... |
V-230748 | Low | The macOS system must conceal, via the session lock, information previously visible on the display with a publicly viewable image. | A default screen saver must be configured for all users, as the screen saver will act as a session time-out lock for the system and must conceal the contents of the screen from unauthorized users.... |
V-230800 | Low | The macOS system must be configured to disable the Mail iCloud services. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230801 | Low | The macOS system must be configured to disable the iCloud Notes services. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230798 | Low | The macOS system must be configured to disable the iCloud Reminders services. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230799 | Low | The macOS system must be configured to disable iCloud Address Book services. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-230794 | Low | The macOS system must be configured to disable AirDrop. | To prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must disable or... |
V-230797 | Low | The macOS system must be configured to disable the iCloud Calendar services. | It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often... |
V-252698 | Low | The macOS system must be configured with Bluetooth turned off unless approved by the organization. | Without protection of communications with wireless peripherals, confidentiality and integrity may be compromised because unprotected communications can be intercepted and either read, altered, or... |