STIGhubSTIGhub
STIGsRMF ControlsCompare

STIGhub

A free tool to search and browse the entire DISA STIG library. Saves up to 75% in security compliance research time.

Navigation

  • Browse STIGs
  • Search
  • RMF Controls
  • Compare Versions

Resources

  • About
  • Release Notes
  • VPAT
  • DISA STIG Library
STIGs updated 3 hours ago
Powered by Pylon
© 2026 Beacon Cloud Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
← Back to Apple macOS 26 (Tahoe) Security Technical Implementation Guide

V-277050

CAT II (Medium)

The macOS system must disable login to other users' active and locked sessions.

Rule ID

SV-277050r1149393_rule

STIG

Apple macOS 26 (Tahoe) Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R2

CCIs

CCI-000764CCI-004045

Discussion

The ability to log in to another user's active or locked session must be disabled. WARNING: This rule may cause issues when platformSSO is configured. macOS has a privilege that can be granted to any user that will allow that user to unlock active users' sessions. Disabling the administrator's and/or user's ability to log in to another user's active and locked session prevents unauthorized people from viewing potentially sensitive and/or personal information. Note: Configuring this setting will change the user experience and disable TouchID from unlocking the screen saver. To restore the user experience and allow TouchID to unlock the screen saver, run "/usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow screenUnlockMode -int 1". This setting can also be deployed with a configuration profile. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000104-GPOS-00051, SRG-OS-000109-GPOS-00056

Check Content

Verify the macOS system is configured to disable login to other users' active and locked sessions with the following command:

RESULT="FAIL"
  SS_RULE=$(/usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb read system.login.screensaver  2>&1 | /usr/bin/xmllint --xpath "//dict/key[.='rule']/following-sibling::array[1]/string/text()" -)

  if [[ "${SS_RULE}" == "authenticate-session-owner" ]]; then
      RESULT="PASS"
  else
      PSSO_CHECK=$(/usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb read "$SS_RULE"  2>&1 | /usr/bin/xmllint --xpath '//key[.="rule"]/following-sibling::array[1]/string/text()' -)
      if /usr/bin/grep -Fxq "authenticate-session-owner" <<<"$PSSO_CHECK"; then
          RESULT="PASS"
      fi
  fi

  echo $RESULT

If the result is not "PASS", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the macOS system to disable login to other users' active and locked sessions with the following command:

SS_RULE=$(/usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb read system.login.screensaver 2>&1 | /usr/bin/xmllint --xpath "//dict/key[.='rule']/following-sibling::array[1]/string/text()" -)

  if [[ "$SS_RULE" == *psso* ]]; then
      /usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb read psso-screensaver > "/tmp/psso-screensaver-mscp.plist"
      /usr/bin/sed -i.bak 's/<string>authenticate-session-owner-or-admin<\/string>/<string>authenticate-session-owner<\/string>/' /tmp/psso-screensaver-mscp.plist
      /usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb write psso-screensaver-mscp < /tmp/psso-screensaver-mscp.plist
      /usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb write system.login.screensaver psso-screensaver-mscp 2>&1
  else
      /usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb write system.login.screensaver "authenticate-session-owner" 2>&1
  fi