Title

The macOS system must set permissions on user home directories to prevent users from having access to read or modify another user's files. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Configuring the operating system to use the most restrictive permissions possible for user home directories helps to protect against inadvertent disclosures. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00228, SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00230

Check Content

Verify the macOS system is configured so that permissions are set correctly on user home directories with the following commands: /bin/ls -le /Users This command will return a listing of the permissions of the root of every user account configured on the system. For each of the users, the permissions must be "drwxr-xr-x+", with the user listed as the owner and the group listed as "staff". The plus(+) sign indicates an associated Access Control List, which must be: 0: group:everyone deny delete For every authorized user account, also run the following command: /usr/bin/sudo /bin/ls -le /Users/userid, where userid is an existing user. This command will return the permissions of all the objects under the users' home directory. The permissions for each of the subdirectories must be: drwx------+ 0: group:everyone deny delete The exception is the "Public" directory, whose permissions must match the following: drwxr-xr-x+ 0: group:everyone deny delete If the permissions returned by either of these checks differ from what is shown, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the macOS system to set the appropriate permissions for each user on the system with the following command: /usr/sbin/diskutil resetUserPermissions / DeviceNode UID, where "DeviceNode UID" is the ID number for the user whose home directory permissions need to be repaired.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-252516r916421_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-252516

Group Title: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00228

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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