AOSX-14-003024 - The macOS system must use multifactor authentication in the establishment of nonlocal maintenance and diagnostic sessions - ChallengeResponseAuthentication

Information

If maintenance tools are used by unauthorized personnel, they may accidentally or intentionally damage or compromise the system. The act of managing systems and applications includes the ability to access sensitive application information, such as system configuration details, diagnostic information, user information, and potentially sensitive application data.

Some maintenance and test tools are either standalone devices with their own operating systems or are applications bundled with an operating system.

Nonlocal maintenance and diagnostic activities are those activities conducted by individuals communicating through a network, either an external network (e.g., the Internet) or an internal network. Typically, strong authentication requires authenticators that are resistant to replay attacks and employ multifactor authentication. Strong authenticators include, for example, PKI where certificates are stored on a token protected by a password, passphrase, or biometric.

Solution

For non-directory bound systems, this setting is enforced using the 'Smart Card Policy' configuration profile.

Note: Before applying the 'Smart Card Policy', the supplemental guidance provided with the STIG should be consulted to ensure continued access to the operating system.

To ensure that passcode based logins are disabled in sshd, run the following command:

/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/sed -i.bak 's/^[#]*ChallengeResponseAuthentication.*/ChallengeResponseAuthentication no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/sed -i.bak 's/^[#]*PasswordAuthentication.*/PasswordAuthentication no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_Apple_OS_X_10-14_V2R6_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: MAINTENANCE

References: 800-53|MA-4c., CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000877, Rule-ID|SV-209624r610285_rule, STIG-ID|AOSX-14-003024, STIG-Legacy|SV-105115, STIG-Legacy|V-95977, Vuln-ID|V-209624

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: e3ccf5e5ad26a4549839c75054eee15b32c5158b28e05189179d8608a543a62a