Vulnerability Discussion

By limiting the number of failed logon attempts, the risk of unauthorized system access via user password guessing, otherwise known as brute forcing, is reduced. Limits are imposed by locking the account.

Check

Verify the macOS system is configured to enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user before the user account is locked with the following command:

/usr/sbin/system_profiler SPConfigurationProfileDataType | /usr/bin/grep "maxFailedAttempts\|minutesUntilFailedLoginReset"

maxFailedAttempts = 3;
minutesUntilFailedLoginReset = 15;

If "maxFailedAttempts" is not set to "3" and "minutesUntilFailedLoginReset" is not set to "15", this is a finding.

Fix

Configure the macOS system to enforce the limit of three consecutive invalid logon attempts by a user before the user account is locked by installing the "Passcode Policy" configuration profile or by a directory service.