The operating system must automatically lock the account until the locked account is released by an administrator when three unsuccessful login attempts in 15 minutes are exceeded.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-58471	AOSX-09-001326	SV-72901r1_rule		Medium

Description
By limiting the number of failed login 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. Setting a lockout expiration of 15 minutes is an effective deterrent against brute forcing that also makes allowances for legitimate mistakes by users.

STIG	Date
Apple OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) Workstation Security Technical Implementation Guide	2015-02-26

Details

Check Text ( C-59321r1_chk )
To check if the password policy is configured to disable an account for 15 minutes after 3 unsuccessful login attempts, run the following command: sudo pwpolicy getglobalpolicy \| tr ' ' '\n' \| grep 'maxFailedLoginAttempts\\|minutesUntilFailedLoginReset' If the result is not 'maxFailedLoginAttempts=3' and 'minutesUntilFailedLoginReset=15', and password policy is not controlled by a directory server, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-59321r1_chk )

To check if the password policy is configured to disable an account for 15 minutes after 3 unsuccessful login attempts, run the following command:

sudo pwpolicy getglobalpolicy | tr ' ' '\n' | grep 'maxFailedLoginAttempts\|minutesUntilFailedLoginReset'

If the result is not 'maxFailedLoginAttempts=3' and 'minutesUntilFailedLoginReset=15', and password policy is not controlled by a directory server, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-63809r1_fix)
To set the password policy, run the following command: sudo pwpolicy setglobalpolicy 'maxFailedLoginAttempts=3 minutesUntilFailedLoginReset=15'