Title

The macOS system must disable the SSHD service. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Without confidentiality and integrity protection mechanisms, unauthorized individuals may gain access to sensitive information via a remote access session. Remote access is access to DoD non-public information systems by an authorized user (or an information system) communicating through an external, non-organization-controlled network. Remote access methods include, for example, dial-up, broadband, and wireless. Encryption provides a means to secure the remote connection to prevent unauthorized access to the data traversing the remote access connection (e.g., Remote Desktop Protocol [RDP]), thereby providing a degree of confidentiality. The encryption strength of a mechanism is selected based on the security categorization of the information. Privileged access contains control and configuration information and is particularly sensitive, so additional protections are necessary. This is maintained by using cryptographic mechanisms, such as a hash function or digital signature, to protect integrity. Nonlocal maintenance and diagnostic activities are those activities conducted by individuals communicating through a network, either an external network (e.g., the Internet) or an internal network. Use of weak or untested encryption algorithms undermines the purposes of using encryption to protect data. The operating system must implement cryptographic modules adhering to the higher standards approved by the federal government since this provides assurance they have been tested and validated. The implementation of OpenSSH that is included with macOS does not utilize a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic module. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000250-GPOS-00093, SRG-OS-000033-GPOS-00014, SRG-OS-000393-GPOS-00173, SRG-OS-000394-GPOS-00174, SRG-OS-000112-GPOS-00057, SRG-OS-000113-GPOS-00058, SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188, SRG-OS-000425-GPOS-00189, SRG-OS-000426-GPOS-00190

Check Content

Verify the "SSHD" service is disabled by using the following command: /bin/launchctl print-disabled system | grep sshd If the results do not show "com.openssh.sshd => true", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Disable the "SSHD" service by using the following command: usr/bin/sudo /bin/launchctl disable system/com.openssh.sshd The system may need to be restarted for the update to take effect.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-230751r877394_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-230751

Group Title: SRG-OS-000250-GPOS-00093

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.