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The macOS system must disable password authentication for SSH.

An XCCDF Rule

Description

<VulnDiscussion>If remote logon through SSH is enabled, password-based authentication must be disabled for user logon. All users must go through multifactor authentication to prevent unauthenticated access and potential compromise to the system. 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-000067-GPOS-00035,SRG-OS-000105-GPOS-00052,SRG-OS-000106-GPOS-00053,SRG-OS-000107-GPOS-00054,SRG-OS-000108-GPOS-00055,SRG-OS-000112-GPOS-00057,SRG-OS-000125-GPOS-00065,SRG-OS-000375-GPOS-00160</VulnDiscussion><FalsePositives></FalsePositives><FalseNegatives></FalseNegatives><Documentable>false</Documentable><Mitigations></Mitigations><SeverityOverrideGuidance></SeverityOverrideGuidance><PotentialImpacts></PotentialImpacts><ThirdPartyTools></ThirdPartyTools><MitigationControl></MitigationControl><Responsibility></Responsibility><IAControls></IAControls>

ID
SV-259477r941053_rule
Severity
High
References
Updated



Remediation - Manual Procedure

Configure the macOS system to disable password authentication 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