SV-251563r960963: Firefox private browsing must be disabled. | Mozilla Firefox for Windows STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Firefox private browsing must be disabled.

Description

Discussion Text

Private browsing allows the user to browse the internet without recording their browsing history/activity. From a forensics perspective, this is unacceptable. Best practice requires that browser history is retained.

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000381

References

DPMS Target Mozilla Firefox 2021 VERSION DISA DPMS Target Mozilla Firefox 2021 VERSION 5446

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

# Windows PowerShell
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.stig.firefox.windows:def:118
# Firefox private browsing must be disabled.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\DisablePrivateBrowsing is set to 1 reg_dword
# registry_object (registry_test)
function test_1 {
  return (((@{String='reg_sz';ExpandString='reg_expand_sz';Binary='reg_binary';DWord='reg_dword';MultiString='reg_multi_sz';QWord='reg_qword';None='reg_none'}[(Get-Item -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox').GetValueKind('DisablePrivateBrowsing').ToString()]) -eq 'reg_dword') -and (((Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox' -Name 'DisablePrivateBrowsing' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'DisablePrivateBrowsing') -eq 1))
}

if (test_1) {
  Write-Output "PASS"
} else {
  Write-Output "FAIL"
}

Assessment Script Powered by AISyntax-verified

A standalone PowerShell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked as valid PowerShell. Not executed here — running it for real needs the actual moz_firefox_windows target this check assesses.

# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.firefox.windows:def:118
$registryPath = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox"
$registryName = "DisablePrivateBrowsing"
$registryValue = 1
if (-not (Test-Path $registryPath)) { $compliant = $true } else { $compliant = (Get-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name $registryName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).$registryName -eq $registryValue }
if ($compliant) { Write-Output "PASS"; exit 0 } else { Write-Output "FAIL"; exit 1 }

Remediation

Windows group policy:
1. Open the group policy editor tool with "gpedit.msc".
2. Navigate to Policy Path: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Mozilla\Firefox
Policy Name: Disable Private Browsing
Policy State: Enabled

macOS "plist" file:
Add the following:
<key>DisablePrivateBrowsing</key>
<true/>

Linux "policies.json" file:
Add the following in the policies section:
"DisablePrivateBrowsing": true