STIGQter: STIG Summary: Apple macOS 15 (Sequoia) Security Technical Implementation Guide Version: 1 Release: 7 Benchmark Date: 01 Apr 2026:

The macOS system must be configured to audit all administrative action events.

DISA Rule

SV-268452r1131210_rule

Vulnerability Number

V-268452

Group Title

SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004

Rule Version

APPL-15-001001

Severity

CAT II

CCI(s)

• CCI-000018 - Automatically audit account creation actions.
• CCI-001403 - Automatically audit account modification actions.
• CCI-001404 - Automatically audit account disabling actions.
• CCI-001405 - Automatically audit account removal actions.
• CCI-002130 - Automatically audit account enabling actions.
• CCI-002234 - Log the execution of privileged functions.
• CCI-003938 - Automatically generate audit records of the enforcement actions.
• CCI-002884 - Log organization-defined audit events for nonlocal maintenance and diagnostic sessions.
• CCI-000172 - Generate audit records for the event types defined in AU-2 c that include the audit record content defined in AU-3.

Weight

10

Fix Recommendation

Configure the macOS system to audit privileged access with the following command:

/usr/bin/grep -qE "^flags.*[^-]ad" /etc/security/audit_control || /usr/bin/sed -i.bak '/^flags/ s/$/,ad/' /etc/security/audit_control; /usr/sbin/audit -s

A text editor may also be used to implement the required updates to the "/etc/security/audit_control" file.

Check Contents

Verify the macOS system is configured to audit privileged access with the following command:

/usr/bin/awk -F':' '/^flags/ { print $NF }' /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/tr ',' '\n' | /usr/bin/grep -Ec 'ad'

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

Vulnerability Number

V-268452

Documentable

False

Rule Version

APPL-15-001001

Severity Override Guidance

Verify the macOS system is configured to audit privileged access with the following command:

/usr/bin/awk -F':' '/^flags/ { print $NF }' /etc/security/audit_control | /usr/bin/tr ',' '\n' | /usr/bin/grep -Ec 'ad'

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

Check Content Reference

M

Target Key

5661