Apple macOS 26 (Tahoe) Security Technical Implementation Guide

The Apple macOS 26 (Tahoe) Security Technical Implementation Guide (V1 R4) has 160 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

V1 · R4

CurrentPublished Wed Sep 30 2026

The macOS system must disable sending search data from Spotlight to Apple.

Apple macOS 26 (Tahoe) Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

The macOS system must disable sending search data from Spotlight to Apple.

Description

Discussion Text

Sending data to Apple to help improve search must be disabled.

The information system must be configured to provide only essential capabilities. Disabling the submission of search data will mitigate the risk of unwanted data being sent to Apple.

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

Objective

V-277104

Rule

SV-277104r1148764_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

APPL-26-002024

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

Verify the macOS system is configured to disable sending search data from Spotlight with the following command:

/usr/bin/osascript -l JavaScript << EOS
$.NSUserDefaults.alloc.initWithSuiteName('com.apple.assistant.support')\
.objectForKey('Search Queries Data Sharing Status').js
EOS

If the result is not "2", this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Configure the macOS system to disable sending search data from Spotlight by installing the "com.apple.assistant.support" configuration profile.

STIG check 77 of 160 in the Apple macOS 26 (Tahoe) STIG checklist

← Previous · V-277103The macOS system must disable sending audio recordings and transcripts to Apple.Next · V-277105 →The macOS system must disable Apple ID setup during Setup Assistant.