Apple macOS 14 (Sonoma) Security Technical Implementation Guide

The Apple macOS 14 (Sonoma) Security Technical Implementation Guide (V2 R4) has 156 STIG checks. New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist?, CKL vs CKLB, and STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

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Severity

Version

V2 · R4

CurrentPublished Wed Oct 01 2025

The macOS system must disable password hints.

Apple macOS 14 (Sonoma) Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

The macOS system must disable password hints.

Description

Discussion Text

Password hints must be disabled.

Password hints leak information about passwords that are currently in use and can lead to loss of confidentiality.

New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist? and CKL vs CKLB.

Objective

V-259542

Rule

SV-259542r958470_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

APPL-14-003012

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

Verify the macOS system is configured to disable password hints with the following command:

/usr/bin/osascript -l JavaScript << EOS
$.NSUserDefaults.alloc.initWithSuiteName('com.apple.loginwindow')\
.objectForKey('RetriesUntilHint').js
EOS

If the result is not "0", this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Configure the macOS system to disable password hints by installing the "com.apple.loginwindow" configuration profile.

STIG check 121 of 156 in the Apple macOS 14 (Sonoma) STIG checklist

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