STIGUI
V-277051CAT II — Medium severitySV-277051r1148605_rule

The macOS system must disable root login.

Rule version APPL-26-000100 · STIG v1 · 2026-09-01

Discussion

To ensure individual accountability and prevent unauthorized access, logging in as root at the login window 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.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000104-GPOS-00051, SRG-OS-000109-GPOS-00056, SRG-OS-000364-GPOS-00151

Check

Verify the macOS system is configured to disable root login with the following command:

/usr/bin/dscl . -read /Users/root UserShell 2>&1 | /usr/bin/grep -c "/usr/bin/false"

If the result is not "1", this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the macOS system to disable root login with the following command:

/usr/bin/dscl . -create /Users/root UserShell /usr/bin/false

Identifiers

Group ID
V-277051
Group title
SRG-OS-000104-GPOS-00051
Rule ID
SV-277051r1148605_rule
Check ID
C-81206r1148603_chk
Fix ID
F-81111r1148604_fix