The macOS system must enforce session lock no more than five seconds after screen saver is started.

STIG ID: APPL-14-000003  |  SRG: SRG-OS-000028-GPOS-00009 |  Severity: medium |  CCI: CCI-000056 |  Vulnerability Id: V-259420 | 

Vulnerability Discussion

A screen saver must be enabled and the system must be configured to require a password to unlock once the screensaver has been on for a maximum of five seconds.

An unattended system with an excessive grace period is vulnerable to a malicious user.

Check

Verify the macOS system is configured to initiate a session lock within five seconds of the screen saver starting with the following command:

/usr/bin/osascript -l JavaScript << EOS
function run() {
let delay = ObjC.unwrap($.NSUserDefaults.alloc.initWithSuiteName('com.apple.screensaver')\
.objectForKey('askForPasswordDelay'))
if ( delay <= 5 ) {
return("true")
} else {
return("false")
}
}
EOS

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

Fix

Configure the macOS system to initiate a session lock within five seconds of the screen saver starting by installing the "com.apple.screensaver" configuration profile.