Guide to the Secure Configuration of Apple macOS 10.15
with profile NIST 800-53 Moderate-Impact Baseline for Apple macOS 10.15 CatalinaThis compliance profile reflects the core set of Moderate-Impact Baseline configuration settings for deployment of Apple macOS 10.15 Catalina into U.S. Defense, Intelligence, and Civilian agencies. Development partners and sponsors include the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Defense, and the the National Security Agency. This baseline implements configuration requirements from the following sources: - NIST 800-53 control selections for Moderate-Impact systems (NIST 800-53) For any differing configuration requirements, e.g. password lengths, the stricter security setting was chosen. Security Requirement Traceability Guides (RTMs) and sample System Security Configuration Guides are provided via the scap-security-guide-docs package. This profile reflects U.S. Government consensus content and is developed through the ComplianceAsCode initiative, championed by the National Security Agency. Except for differences in formatting to accommodate publishing processes, this profile mirrors ComplianceAsCode content as minor divergences, such as bugfixes, work through the consensus and release processes.
The Compliance As Code Project
https://github.com/ComplianceAsCode/content
https://github.com/ComplianceAsCode/content
This guide presents a catalog of security-relevant
configuration settings for Apple macOS 10.15. It is a rendering of
content structured in the eXtensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF)
in order to support security automation.
Providing system administrators with such guidance informs them how to securely configure systems under their control in a variety of network roles. Policy makers and baseline creators can use this catalog of settings, with its associated references to higher-level security control catalogs, in order to assist them in security baseline creation. This guide is a catalog, not a checklist, and satisfaction of every item is not likely to be possible or sensible in many operational scenarios. However, the XCCDF format enables granular selection and adjustment of settings, and their association with OVAL and OCIL content provides an automated checking capability. Transformations of this document, and its associated automated checking content, are capable of providing baselines that meet a diverse set of policy objectives. Some example XCCDF Profiles, which are selections of items that form checklists and can be used as baselines, are available with this guide. They can be processed, in an automated fashion, with tools that support the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP). The DISA STIG, which provides required settings for US Department of Defense systems, is one example of a baseline created from this guidance.
Providing system administrators with such guidance informs them how to securely configure systems under their control in a variety of network roles. Policy makers and baseline creators can use this catalog of settings, with its associated references to higher-level security control catalogs, in order to assist them in security baseline creation. This guide is a catalog, not a checklist, and satisfaction of every item is not likely to be possible or sensible in many operational scenarios. However, the XCCDF format enables granular selection and adjustment of settings, and their association with OVAL and OCIL content provides an automated checking capability. Transformations of this document, and its associated automated checking content, are capable of providing baselines that meet a diverse set of policy objectives. Some example XCCDF Profiles, which are selections of items that form checklists and can be used as baselines, are available with this guide. They can be processed, in an automated fashion, with tools that support the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP). The DISA STIG, which provides required settings for US Department of Defense systems, is one example of a baseline created from this guidance.
Do not attempt to implement any of the settings in
this guide without first testing them in a non-operational environment. The
creators of this guidance assume no responsibility whatsoever for its use by
other parties, and makes no guarantees, expressed or implied, about its
quality, reliability, or any other characteristic.
Profile Information
Profile Title | NIST 800-53 Moderate-Impact Baseline for Apple macOS 10.15 Catalina |
---|---|
Profile ID | xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_profile_moderate |
CPE Platforms
- cpe:/o:apple:macos:10.15
Revision History
Current version: 0.1.76
- draft (as of 2024-12-21)
Table of Contents
Checklist
Group Guide to the Secure Configuration of Apple macOS 10.15 Group contains 2 groups and 2 rules | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group System Accounting with audit Group contains 1 group and 2 rules | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[ref]
The Basic Security Module (BSM) security audit API and file format is Apple's
auditing system. The audit() function submits a record to the kernel for inclusion in the
global audit trail. The record must already be in BSM format. To protect
the integrity of the audit trail, this system call must be made with sufficient
privileges. Libbsm can be used to create and manipulate BSM data. Length
is the length in bytes of the BSM record and record points to the data.
The audit service provides substantial capabilities for recording system
activities. Secure networks often have substantial auditing
requirements, and auditd can be configured to meet these
requirements. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group Configure auditd Group contains 1 rule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[ref]
The auditd program can perform comprehensive
monitoring of system activity. This section describes recommended
configuration settings for comprehensive auditing, but a full
description of the auditing system's capabilities is beyond the
scope of this guide. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Apple, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, macOS and OS X are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Apple, Inc. in the United States and other
countries. All other names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their
respective companies.