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V-257154

CAT II (Medium)

The macOS system must enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user before the user account is locked.

Rule ID

SV-257154r958736_rule

STIG

Apple macOS 13 (Ventura) Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R5

CCIs

CCI-002238

Discussion

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.

Check Content

Verify the macOS system is configured to enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user before the user account is locked with the following command:

/usr/sbin/system_profiler SPConfigurationProfileDataType | /usr/bin/grep "maxFailedAttempts\|minutesUntilFailedLoginReset"

maxFailedAttempts = 3;
minutesUntilFailedLoginReset = 15;

If "maxFailedAttempts" is not set to "3" and "minutesUntilFailedLoginReset" is not set to "15", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the macOS system to enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user before the user account is locked by installing the "Passcode Policy" configuration profile or by a directory service.