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The macOS system must require an administrator password to modify systemwide preferences.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-268514APPL-15-002069SV-268514r1131229_ruleCCI-002235high
Description
The system must be configured to require an administrator password to modify the systemwide preferences in System Settings. Some Preference Panes in System Settings contain settings that affect the entire system. Requiring a password to unlock these systemwide settings reduces the risk of an unauthorized user modifying system configurations.
STIGDate
Apple macOS 15 (Sequoia) Security Technical Implementation Guide2026-02-06

Related Frameworks

1 mapping across 4 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-21.5Prohibit Non-Privileged Users from Executing Privileged Functions
1.00
NIST 800-530 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 2 hops (50) 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-2(1)Automated System Account Management
1.00
AC-2(10)Shared and Group Account Credential Change
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
AC-3(4)Discretionary Access Control
1.00
AC-3(7)Role-based Access Control
1.00
AC-4Information Flow Enforcement
1.00
AC-6(10)Prohibit Non-privileged Users from Executing Privileged Functions
1.00

+40 more (top 10 by confidence shown)

NIST 800-1710 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.

3.1.7
1.00
CCI1 mapping
CCI-002235
1.00

Details

Check Text (C-268514r1131229_chk)

Verify the macOS system is configured to require administrator privileges to modify systemwide settings with the following command: authDBs=("system.preferences" "system.preferences.energysaver" "system.preferences.network" "system.preferences.printing" "system.preferences.sharing" "system.preferences.softwareupdate" "system.preferences.startupdisk" "system.preferences.timemachine") result="1" for section in ${authDBs[@]}; do if [[ $(/usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb read "$section" | /usr/bin/xmllint -xpath 'name(//*[contains(text(), "shared")]/following-sibling::*[1])' -) != "false" ]]; then result="0" fi if [[ $(security -q authorizationdb read "$section" | /usr/bin/xmllint -xpath '//*[contains(text(), "group")]/following-sibling::*[1]/text()' - ) != "admin" ]]; then result="0" fi if [[ $(/usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb read "$section" | /usr/bin/xmllint -xpath 'name(//*[contains(text(), "authenticate-user")]/following-sibling::*[1])' -) != "true" ]]; then result="0" fi if [[ $(/usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb read "$section" | /usr/bin/xmllint -xpath 'name(//*[contains(text(), "session-owner")]/following-sibling::*[1])' -) != "false" ]]; then result="0" fi done echo $result If the result is not "1", this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-72445r1131228_fix)

Configure the macOS system to require administrator privileges to modify systemwide settings with the following command: authDBs=("system.preferences" "system.preferences.energysaver" "system.preferences.network" "system.preferences.printing" "system.preferences.sharing" "system.preferences.softwareupdate" "system.preferences.startupdisk" "system.preferences.timemachine") for section in ${authDBs[@]}; do /usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb read "$section" > "/tmp/$section.plist" class_key_value=$(usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :class" "/tmp/$section.plist" 2>&1) if [[ "$class_key_value" == *"Does Not Exist"* ]]; then /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add :class string user" "/tmp/$section.plist" else /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :class user" "/tmp/$section.plist" fi key_value=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :shared" "/tmp/$section.plist" 2>&1) if [[ "$key_value" == *"Does Not Exist"* ]]; then /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add :shared bool false" "/tmp/$section.plist" else /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :shared false" "/tmp/$section.plist" fi auth_user_key=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :authenticate-user" "/tmp/$section.plist" 2>&1) if [[ "$auth_user_key" == *"Does Not Exist"* ]]; then /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add :authenticate-user bool true" "/tmp/$section.plist" else /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :authenticate-user true" "/tmp/$section.plist" fi session_owner_key=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :session-owner" "/tmp/$section.plist" 2>&1) if [[ "$session_owner_key" == *"Does Not Exist"* ]]; then /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add :session-owner bool false" "/tmp/$section.plist" else /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :session-owner false" "/tmp/$section.plist" fi group_key=$(usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :group" "/tmp/$section.plist" 2>&1) if [[ "$group_key" == *"Does Not Exist"* ]]; then /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add :group string admin" "/tmp/$section.plist" else /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :group admin" "/tmp/$section.plist" fi /usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb write "$section" < "/tmp/$section.plist" done