The macOS system must disable login to other users' active and locked sessions.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-277050 | APPL-26-000090 | SV-277050r1149393_rule | CCI-000764 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Apple macOS 26 (Tahoe) Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2026-02-11 | |||
Related Frameworks
4 paths across 3 frameworks
Related Frameworks
NIST 800-531 mapping
IA-2
1.00
- DISA · V1R2 · disa_xccdf · related
- DISA · 2025-01-23 · disa_cci_list · equivalent
NIST 800-1712 mappings
3.5.1
1.00
- DISA · V1R2 · disa_xccdf · related
- DISA · 2025-01-23 · disa_cci_list · equivalent
- NIST · Rev 2 (Feb 2020, errata Jan 2021) · nist_800_171_app_d · equivalent
3.5.2
1.00
- DISA · V1R2 · disa_xccdf · related
- DISA · 2025-01-23 · disa_cci_list · equivalent
- NIST · Rev 2 (Feb 2020, errata Jan 2021) · nist_800_171_app_d · equivalent
CCI1 mapping
CCI-000764
1.00
- DISA · V1R2 · disa_xccdf · related
Details
Check Text (C-277050r1149393_chk)
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 $RESULT
If the result is not "PASS", this is a finding.
Fix Text (F-81110r1149331_fix)
Configure the macOS system to disable login to other users' active and locked sessions with the following command:
SS_RULE=$(/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