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auth_ssh_password_authentication_disable Disable Password Authentication for SSH

NIST macOS Security Compliance Project Sequoia Guidance, Revision 4.0 (be5491f)
All changes in this version
first version loaded Authentication

Title

Disable Password Authentication for SSH

Control

/usr/sbin/sshd -G | /usr/bin/grep -Ec '^(passwordauthentication\s+no|kbdinteractiveauthentication\s+no)'

Discussion

If remote login through SSH is enabled, password based authentication _MUST_ be disabled for user login.

All users _MUST_ go through multifactor authentication to prevent unauthenticated access and potential compromise to the system.

NOTE: /etc/ssh/sshd_config will be automatically modified to its original state following any update or major upgrade to the operating system.

Related controls

ia-2, ia-2.1, ia-2.2, ia-2.6, ia-2.8, ia-5.2, ma-4

Fix

[source,bash]
----
include_dir=$(/usr/bin/awk '/^Include/ {print $2}' /etc/ssh/sshd_config | /usr/bin/tr -d '*')
if [[ -z $include_dir ]]; then
/usr/bin/sed -i.bk "1s/.*/Include \/etc\/ssh\/sshd_config.d\/\*/" /etc/ssh/sshd_config
fi
echo "passwordauthentication no" >> "${include_dir}01-mscp-sshd.conf"
echo "kbdinteractiveauthentication 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
----