macOS LAPS (Local Administrator Password Solution)

Swift binary that utilizes Open Directory to determine if the local administrator password has expired as specified by the Active Directory attribute dsAttrTypeNative:ms-Mcs-AdmPwdExpirationTime. If this is the case then a new randomly generated password will be set for the local admin account and a new expiration date will be set. The LAPS password is stored in the Active Directory attribute dsAttrTypeNative:ms-Mcs-AdmPwd. This attribute can only be read by those designated to view the attribute. The computer record can write to this attribute but it cannot read.

Requirements

The following preference keys must be set or the application will use the defaults:

LocalAdminAccount - Local Administrator Account. Default is 'admin'. (In String format)
DaysTillExpiration - Expiration date of random password. Default is 60 Days. (In Integer format)
PasswordLength - Length of randomly generated password. Default is 12. (In Integer format)
PasswordGrouping - How many characters you want in each group before the separator. Default is 0 (In Integer format)
PasswordSeparator - What Password separtor you would like to use. Default is - (In String format)
RemoveKeyChain - Remove the local admin keychains after password change. (In Boolean format, recommended)
RemovePassChars - Exclude any characters you'd like from the randomly generated password (In String format)
ExclusionSets - Exclude any character set you'd like by specifying a string in an array. Options are 'symbols', 'letters', and/or 'numbers'.
PreferredDC - Set your preferred Domain Controller to connect to [Useful when you have RODCs] (In String format).
FirstPass - Use this key if you are LAPS Admin is a FileVault user. The script will read this key in if there isn't a keychain entry in System keychain for macOSLAPS. Once this has been completed, the keychain entry will then be used.
Method - The method to use with macOSLAPS. Default is AD for Active Directory. The other option is Local which will allow local rotation and no need to talk to Active Directory.

NOTE about FirstPass: macOSLAPS must know at least one password via config profile before we can start the keychain process. Setting this key before running it for the first time when it is your temporary admin password is the best method.

These parameters are set in the location /Library/Preferences/edu.psu.macoslaps.plist or you can use your MDM's Custom Settings to set these values.

NOTE: The Swift binary will only work on macOS 10.12+. If you need to run LAPS on older versions of macOS please use the legacy version of macOSLAPS written in Python here

Exclusions

As pointed out by one of my fellow colleagues, the ' key on macOS cannot be used on Windows without opening the character map to enter it. Since this is very detriment to using a LAPS password from a Windows client I have made this key excluded by default.

Installation Instructions

At this time you can clone the repo or download a zip of the repo or you can use the package created using Packages to install. The package includes a Launch Daemon to run macOSLAPS every 90 minutes.

Usage

macOSLAPS is designed to run in an automated fashion (e.g. triggered by a Launch Daemon or your management tool of choice). It can be invoked manually at the command line by running /usr/local/laps/macOSLAPS as root.

Optional Flags

-resetPassword - generates a new password and writes it to the Active Directory computer record.
-version - prints out the current verison of macOSLAPS. -getPassword - Will store the password and expiration date in files only accessible by root. These files are deleted upon next run. This will ONLY work if the method selected is Local (Locations: /var/root/Library/Application Support/macOSLAPS-password and /var/root/Library/Application Support/macOSLAPS-expiration)

Logging

The script will also perform logging so that you know when the password is changed and its new expiration date or when the current unchanged password will expire. This file is stored in /Library/Logs/macOSLAPS.log

Feedback

Since this is a binary, it can be signed which means that the code itself will not display when viewing the executable. Please test this new version and report back results.

Local Admin Keychain

By default, the local admin you choose has its keychain deleted since we wouldn't know the randomized password.

Credits

• Rusty Myers - For helping to determine that Windows has its own time method vs Epoch time
• Matt Hansen - For critiquing and assisting with generating the random password
• Per Olofsson - For advising me on using ISODate format for international dates and for providing the foundational code for password grouping
• Allen Clouser and Jody Harpster - For showing me that the ' key cannot be used from a Windows client without character map
• John Pater - For advising me on the idea of generating 10 random passwords and picking one randomly to further randomize the password
• Joel Rennich - For taking my questions about Swift and advising me on better ways to utilize Swift. Another special thanks to Joel for advising me on saving the password in the System keychain to deal with secureToken.
• Peter Szul - For working with me to determine the initial date set by a newly bound computer is invalid and we need to test writing to the Domain Controller with another value for the first run.