Big Sur - Packet Filter (pf) Supplemental

Information

The supplemental guidance found in this section is applicable for the following rules:

* os_firewall_default_deny_require

macOS contains an application layer firewall (ALF) and a packet filter (PF) firewall.

* The ALF can block incoming traffic on a per-application basis and prevent applications from gaining control of network ports, but it cannot be configured to block outgoing traffic.
** More information on the ALF can be found here: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201642

* The PF firewall can manipulate virtually any packet data and is highly configurable.
** More information on the BF firewall can be found here: https://www.openbsd.org/faq/pf/index.html

Below is a script that configures ALF and the PF firewall to meet the requirements defined in NIST SP 800-53 (Rev. 5). The script will make sure the application layer firewall is enabled, set logging to "detailed", set built-in signed applications to automatically receive incoming connections, and set downloaded signed applications to automatically receive incoming connections. It will then create a custom rule set and copy `com.apple.pfctl.plis` from `/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/` into the `/Library/LaunchDaemons` folder and name it `800-53.pfctl.plist`. This is done to not conflict with the system's pf ruleset.

The custom pf rules are created at `/etc/pf.anchors/800_53_pf_anchors`.

The ruleset will block connections on the following ports:

[%header,width="100%",cols="3,7"]
|===
^.^|Port
^.^|Service

|548
|Apple File Protocol (AFP)

|1900
|Bonjour

|79
|Finger

|20, 21
|File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

|80
|HTTP

|icmp
|ping

|143
|Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)

|993
|Internet Message Access Protocol over SSL (IMAPS)

|3689
|Music Sharing

|5353
|mDNSResponder

|2049
|Network File System (NFS)

|49152
|Optical Media Sharing

|110
|Post Office Protocol (POP3)

|995
|Post Office Protocol Secure (POP3S)

|631
|Printer Sharing

|3031
|Remote Apple Events

|5900
|Screen Sharing

|137, 138, 138, 445
|Samba (SMB)

|25
|Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

|22
|Secure Shell (SSH)

|23
|Telnet

|69
|Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)

|540
|Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP)

|===

For more on configuring the PF firewall check out the man pages on `pf.conf` and `pfctl`.

[source,bash]
----
include::../../includes/enablePF-mscp.sh[]
----

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

None

See Also

https://github.com/usnistgov/macos_security

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b.

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 6cdd0aecebf191a4df6ad5e386ce191bc0f2971a6650c5fd5de263e40199a3ec