The macOS system must limit consecutive failed login attempts to three.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-277036	SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005	APPL-26-000022	SV-277036r1149407_rule	2025-10-01	1

Description
The macOS must be configured to limit the number of failed login attempts to a maximum of three. When the maximum number of failed attempts is reached, the account must be locked for a period of time. This rule protects against malicious users attempting to gain access to the system via brute-force hacking methods. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005, SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128

ℹ️ Check
Verify the macOS system is configured to limit consecutive failed login attempts to three with the following command: /usr/bin/pwpolicy -getaccountpolicies 2> /dev/null \| /usr/bin/tail +2 \| /usr/bin/xmllint --xpath '//dict/key[text()="policyAttributeMaximumFailedAuthentications"]/following-sibling::integer[1]/text()' - \| /usr/bin/awk '{ if ($1 <= 3) {print "pass"} else {print "fail"}}' \| /usr/bin/uniq If the result is not "pass", this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Verify the macOS system is configured to limit consecutive failed login attempts to three with the following command: /usr/bin/pwpolicy -getaccountpolicies 2> /dev/null | /usr/bin/tail +2 | /usr/bin/xmllint --xpath '//dict/key[text()="policyAttributeMaximumFailedAuthentications"]/following-sibling::integer[1]/text()' - | /usr/bin/awk '{ if ($1 <= 3) {print "pass"} else {print "fail"}}' | /usr/bin/uniq If the result is not "pass", this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Configure the macOS system to limit consecutive failed login attempts to three by installing the "com.apple.mobiledevice.passwordpolicy" configuration profile.