Details

The information system _IS_ configured to implement non-executable data to protect memory from code execution.

Some adversaries launch attacks with the intent of executing code in non-executable regions of memory or in memory locations that are prohibited (e.g., buffer overflow attacks). Security safeguards (e.g., data execution prevention and address space layout randomization) can be employed to protect non-executable regions of memory. Data execution prevention safeguards can either be hardware-enforced or software-enforced; hardware-enforced methods provide the greater strength of mechanism.

macOS supports address space layout randomization (ASLR), position-independent executable (PIE), Stack Canaries, and NX stack and heap protection.

link:https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/64bitPorting/transition/transition.html[]

link:https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/qa/qa1788/_index.html[]

link:https://www.apple.com/macos/security/[]

Solution

The technology inherently meets this requirement. No fix is required.

Supportive Information

The following resource is also helpful.

• https://github.com/usnistgov/macos_security

This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: System and Information Integrity.This control applies to the following type of system Unix.

References

• 800-53|SI-16
• CCE|CCE-85327-5, CCI|CCI-002824

Source

• Tenable.com/audits