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The macOS system must disable root login for SSH.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-268472APPL-15-001100SV-268472r1034356_ruleCCI-004045medium
Description
If SSH is enabled to ensure individual accountability and prevent unauthorized access, logging in as root via SSH must be disabled. The macOS system MUST require individuals to be authenticated with an individual authenticator prior to using a group authenticator, and administrator users must never log in directly as root. NOTE: /etc/ssh/sshd_config will be automatically modified to its original state following any update or major upgrade to the operating system. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000109-GPOS-00056, SRG-OS-000364-GPOS-00151
STIGDate
Apple macOS 15 (Sequoia) Security Technical Implementation Guide2026-02-06

Related Frameworks

1 mapping across 3 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (1) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

IAC-02.1Group Authentication
1.00
NIST 800-530 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 2 hops (70) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

AC-10Concurrent Session Control
1.00
AC-12Session Termination
1.00
AC-17(10)Authenticate Remote Commands
1.00
AC-2(1)Automated System Account Management
1.00
AC-2(10)Shared and Group Account Credential Change
1.00
AC-2(11)Usage Conditions
1.00
AC-2(2)Automated Temporary and Emergency Account Management
1.00
AC-2(3)Disable Accounts
1.00
AC-2(4)Automated Audit Actions
1.00
AC-3Access Enforcement
1.00

+60 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

CCI1 mapping
CCI-004045
1.00

Details

Check Text (C-268472r1034356_chk)

Verify the macOS system is configured to disable root login for SSH with the following command: /usr/sbin/sshd -G | /usr/bin/awk '/permitrootlogin/{print $2}' If the result is not "no", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-72403r1034355_fix)

Configure the macOS system to disable root login for SSH with the following command: include_dir=$(/usr/bin/awk '/^Include/ {print $2}' /etc/ssh/sshd_config | /usr/bin/tr -d '*') if [[ -z $include_dir ]]; then /usr/bin/sed -i.bk "1s/.*/Include \/etc\/ssh\/sshd_config.d\/\*/" /etc/ssh/sshd_config fi /usr/bin/grep -qxF 'permitrootlogin no' "${include_dir}01-mscp-sshd.conf" 2>/dev/null || echo "permitrootlogin no" >> "${include_dir}01-mscp-sshd.conf" for file in $(ls ${include_dir}); do if [[ "$file" == "100-macos.conf" ]]; then continue fi if [[ "$file" == "01-mscp-sshd.conf" ]]; then break fi /bin/mv ${include_dir}${file} ${include_dir}20-${file} done