Ensure Password History Is Set to at least 24

HighLevel 1Automatedmacos

Description

Over time, passwords can be captured by third parties through mistakes, phishing attacks, third-party breaches, or merely brute-force attacks. To reduce the risk of exposure and to decrease the incentives of password reuse (passwords that are not forced to be changed periodically generally are not ever changed), users must reset passwords periodically. Audit: policyAttributePasswordHistoryDepth must be >= 24 (the benchmark script only tests >= 1; the title value of 24 is enforced here).

How it is checked

Audit method: Shell command

shell

out=$(/usr/bin/pwpolicy -getaccountpolicies 2>/dev/null) || exit 1
p=$(printf '%s\n' "$out" | /usr/bin/grep -A1 policyAttributePasswordHistoryDepth | /usr/bin/tail -1 | /usr/bin/cut -d'>' -f2 | /usr/bin/cut -d'<' -f1)
case "$p" in ''|*[!0-9]*) echo "history=${p:-unset}";; *) if [ "$p" -ge 24 ]; then echo true; else echo "history=$p"; fi;; esac

Expected output: true

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

Profile (preferred): com.apple.mobiledevice.passwordpolicy pinHistory = <integer><value≥24></integer>. Terminal: sudo /usr/bin/pwpolicy -n /Local/Default -setglobalpolicy "usingHistory=<value≥24>" ; sudo /usr/bin/pwpolicy -n /Local/Default -setglobalpolicy "usingHistory=24".

Properties

Operating systems: macos-26
Tags: macossystem-access
Reference: CIS Apple macOS 26 Tahoe Benchmark v1.1.0 - 5.2.8 Ensure Password History Is Set to at least 24

Check this host

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

shell

tmaegis scan --target macos