macOS 15 - Sequoia
The macOS system must disable root login for SSH
Description
If SSH is enabled to ensure individual accountability and prevent unauthorized access, logging in as root via SSH must be disabled.The macOS system MUST require individuals to be authenticated with an individual authenticator prior to using a group authenticator, and administrator users must never log in directly as root.NOTE: /etc/ssh/sshd_config will be automatically modified to its original state following any update or major upgrade to the operating system.Satisfies: SRG-OS-000109-GPOS-00056, SRG-OS-000364-GPOS-00151
Check
Verify the macOS system is configured to disable root login for SSH with the following command:/usr/sbin/sshd -G | /usr/bin/awk '/permitrootlogin/{print $2}'If the result is not "no", this is a finding.
Fix
Configure the macOS system to disable root login for SSH with the following command:include_dir=$(/usr/bin/awk '/^Include/ {print $2}' /etc/ssh/sshd_config | /usr/bin/tr -d '*')if [[ -z $include_dir ]]; then /usr/bin/sed -i.bk "1s/.*/Include \/etc\/ssh\/sshd_config.d\/\*/" /etc/ssh/sshd_configfi/usr/bin/grep -qxF 'permitrootlogin no' "${include_dir}01-mscp-sshd.conf" 2>/dev/null || echo "permitrootlogin no" >> "${include_dir}01-mscp-sshd.conf"for file in $(ls ${include_dir}); do if [[ "$file" == "100-macos.conf" ]]; then continue fi if [[ "$file" == "01-mscp-sshd.conf" ]]; then break fi /bin/mv ${include_dir}${file} ${include_dir}20-${file}done