The operating system must employ strong authenticators in the establishment of non-local maintenance and diagnostic sessions.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-58377	AOSX-09-000695	SV-72807r1_rule		High

Description
The telnet service must be disabled, as it sends all data, including the user's password, in a clear text form that can be easily intercepted and read. Passwords need to be protected at all times and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. Disabling telnet is one way to mitigate this risk. Administrators should be instructed to use an alternate service for remote access sessions that uses encryption, such as SSH.

Description

The telnet service must be disabled, as it sends all data, including the user's password, in a clear text form that can be easily intercepted and read. Passwords need to be protected at all times and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. Disabling telnet is one way to mitigate this risk. Administrators should be instructed to use an alternate service for remote access sessions that uses encryption, such as SSH.

STIG	Date
Apple OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) Workstation Security Technical Implementation Guide	2017-01-05

Details

Check Text ( C-59203r1_chk )
The service 'telnet' should be disabled, to check the status of the service, run the following command: sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'print com.apple.telnetd:Disabled' /var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist If the returned value isn't 'true' or doesn't exist, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-63693r1_fix)
To set the 'telnet' service to disabled, run the following command: sudo defaults write /private/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist 'com.apple.telnetd' -dict Disabled -bool true