2.4.6 Disable DVD or CD Sharing

Information

DVD or CD Sharing allows users to remotely access the system's optical drive. While Apple does not ship Macs with built-in optical drives any longer, external optical drives are still recognized when they are connected. In testing the sharing of an external optical drive persists when a drive is reconnected.

Rationale:

Disabling DVD or CD Sharing minimizes the risk of an attacker using the optical drive as a vector for attack and exposure of sensitive data.

Impact:

Many Apple devices are now sold without optical drives and drive sharing may be needed for legacy optical media. The media should be explicitly re-shared as needed rather than using a persistent share. Optical drives should not be used for long term storage. To store necessary data from an optical drive it should be copied to another form of external storage. Optionally, an image can be made of the optical drive so that it is stored in it's original form on another form of external storage

Solution

Perform the following to disable DVD or CD Sharing:
Graphical Method:

Open System Preferences

Select Sharing

Uncheck DVD or CD sharing

Terminal Method:
Run the following command to disable DVD or CD Sharing:

$ sudo launchctl disable system/com.apple.ODSAgent

Note: If using the Terminal method, the GUI will still show the service checked until after a reboot.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3421