TMA-MACOS-2.6.8

Ensure an Administrator Password Is Required to Access System-Wide Preferences

HighLevel 1Automatedmacos

Description

System Preferences controls system and user settings on a macOS Computer. System Preferences allows the user to tailor their experience on the computer as well as allowing the System Administrator to configure global security settings. Some of the settings should only be altered by the person responsible for the computer.

How it is checked

Audit method: Shell command

shell

[ -x /usr/bin/security ] || exit 1
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 [[ $(/usr/bin/security -q authorizationdb read "$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"

Expected output: 1

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

Terminal: authDBs=("system.preferences" "system.preferences.energysaver" "system.preferences.network" "system.preferences.printing" "system.preferences.sharing" "system.preferences.softwareupdate" "system.preferences.startupdisk" "system.preferences.timemachine"). GUI: System Settings > Privacy & Security > Advanced > Set Require an administrator password to access system-wide settings to enabled.

Properties

Operating systems: macos-26
Tags: macossystem-settings
Reference: CIS Apple macOS 26 Tahoe Benchmark v1.1.0 - 2.6.8 Ensure an Administrator Password Is Required to Access System-Wide Preferences

Check this host

Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.

shell

tmaegis scan --target macos