TMA-SAFARI-4.1
Ensure 'AutoFill user names and passwords' is 'Disabled'
Description
Safari can utilize a user-level keychain for credential storage, and then access that information when revisiting websites on the same domain. By disabling this feature the user will be prompted to manually enter their credentials when they visit a website. Rationale: If this setting is enabled, users can have Safari store and retrieve passwords through the user-level Keychain and provide them automatically the next time they log in to a site. An intruder who has unrestricted access to your computer for even a minute can gain access to secure site areas. Audit reads AutoFillPasswords from the com.apple.Safari preference domain of the account running the scan (the PDF checks the same token in com.apple.Safari.plist; manual check: Follow the below steps and verify that AutoFill user names and passwords is Disabled: 1. Click Safari. 2. Click Preferences. 3. Click Passwords. 4. Verify AutoFill user names and passwords is unchecke). Safari is sandboxed, so the reading process needs Full Disk Access on macOS 10.14+. A missing key exits non-zero and is reported as FAIL even where the built-in default is compliant. Values forced by a configuration profile live in /Library/Managed Preferences and are not read here.
How it is checked
Audit method: Shell command
out=$(defaults read com.apple.Safari AutoFillPasswords 2>/dev/null) || exit 1; printf '%s\n' "$out"- Expected output
0
How it is fixed
Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch
Follow the below steps to set AutoFill user names and passwords to Disabled: 1. Click Safari. 2. Click Preferences. 3. Click Passwords. 4. Uncheck the AutoFill user names and passwords checkbox. Or deploy a configuration profile for com.apple.Safari setting AutoFillPasswords = false, or as the logged-in user run: defaults write com.apple.Safari AutoFillPasswords -bool false and restart Safari.
Properties
- Operating systems
- Any
- Tags
- safaribrowsercis-l2
- Reference
- CIS macOS Safari Benchmark v2.0.0 - 4.1 Ensure 'AutoFill user names and passwords' is 'Disabled'
Check this host
Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.
tmaegis scan --target safari --level 2