How to Use a Shell Script to Alert Inactive User Accounts on macOS

Managing user accounts is a crucial aspect of IT administration. Ensuring that inactive or unused accounts are flagged and handled promptly is vital for maintaining security and efficiency. This blog post discusses a shell script designed to alert administrators about inactive accounts on macOS systems. This script is an essential tool for IT professionals and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) who aim to enhance their security posture and streamline account management.

Background

Inactive accounts pose significant security risks. They can be exploited by malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to systems. In larger organizations, keeping track of user activity manually is impractical. This is where automation scripts come into play. The provided script is tailored for macOS environments and automates the process of identifying and reporting inactive user accounts. It helps IT professionals ensure that only active and necessary accounts exist on their systems.

The Script

#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
# Description: Alerts when there is an inactive/unused account that has not logged in for the specified number of days.
#
# Preset Parameter: --daysInactive "90"
#   Alert if account has been inactive for x days.
#
# Preset Parameter: --showDisabled
#   Includes disabled accounts in alert and report.
#
# Preset Parameter: --multilineField "ReplaceMeWithNameOfYourMultilineField"
#   Name of an optional multiline custom field to save the results to.
#
# Preset Parameter: --wysiwygField "ReplaceMeWithNameOfYourWYSIWYGField"
#   Name of an optional WYSIWYG custom field to save the results to.
#
# Preset Parameter: --help
#   Displays some help text.
#
# Release Notes: Initial Release
# By using this script, you indicate your acceptance of the following legal terms as well as our Terms of Use at https://www.ninjaone.com/terms-of-use.
# Ownership Rights: NinjaOne owns and will continue to own all right, title, and interest in and to the script (including the copyright). NinjaOne is giving you a limited license to use the script in accordance with these legal terms. 
# Use Limitation: You may only use the script for your legitimate personal or internal business purposes, and you may not share the script with another party. 
# Republication Prohibition: Under no circumstances are you permitted to re-publish the script in any script library or website belonging to or under the control of any other software provider. 
# Warranty Disclaimer: The script is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranty of any kind. NinjaOne makes no promise or guarantee that the script will be free from defects or that it will meet your specific needs or expectations. 
# Assumption of Risk: Your use of the script is at your own risk. You acknowledge that there are certain inherent risks in using the script, and you understand and assume each of those risks. 
# Waiver and Release: You will not hold NinjaOne responsible for any adverse or unintended consequences resulting from your use of the script, and you waive any legal or equitable rights or remedies you may have against NinjaOne relating to your use of the script. 
# EULA: If you are a NinjaOne customer, your use of the script is subject to the End User License Agreement applicable to you (EULA).
#

# These are all our preset parameter defaults. You can set these = to something if you would prefer the script defaults to a certain parameter value.
_arg_daysInactive=
_arg_showDisabled="off"
_arg_multilineField=
_arg_wysiwygField=

# Help text function for when invalid input is encountered
print_help() {
  printf '\n\n%s\n\n' 'Usage: --daysInactive|-d <arg> [--multilineField|-m <arg>] [--wysiwygField|-w <arg>] [--showDisabled] [--help|-h]'
  printf '%s\n' 'Preset Parameter: --daysInactive "90"'
  printf '\t%s\n' "Alert if account has been inactive for x days."
  printf '%s\n' 'Preset Parameter: --showDisabled'
  printf '\t%s\n' "Includes disabled accounts in alert and report."
  printf '%s\n' 'Preset Parameter: --multilineField "ReplaceMeWithNameOfYourMultilineField"'
  printf '\t%s\n' "Name of an optional multiline custom field to save the results to."
  printf '%s\n' 'Preset Parameter: --wysiwygField "ReplaceMeWithNameOfYourWYSIWYGField"'
  printf '\t%s\n' "Name of an optional WYSIWYG custom field to save the results to."
  printf '\n%s\n' 'Preset Parameter: --help'
  printf '\t%s\n' "Displays this help menu."
}

# Determines whether or not help text is necessary and routes the output to stderr
die() {
  local _ret="${2:-1}"
  echo "$1" >&2
  test "${_PRINT_HELP:-no}" = yes && print_help >&2
  exit "${_ret}"
}

# Converts a string input into an HTML table format.
convertToHTMLTable() {
  local _arg_delimiter=" "
  local _arg_inputObject

  # Process command-line arguments for the function.
  while test $# -gt 0; do
    _key="$1"
    case "$_key" in
    --delimiter | -d)
      test $# -lt 2 && echo "[Error] Missing value for the optional argument" >&2 && return 1
      _arg_delimiter=$2
      shift
      ;;
    --*)
      echo "[Error] Got an unexpected argument" >&2
      return 1
      ;;
    *)
      _arg_inputObject=$1
      ;;
    esac
    shift
  done

  # Handles missing input by checking stdin or returning an error.
  if [[ -z $_arg_inputObject ]]; then
    if [ -p /dev/stdin ]; then
      _arg_inputObject=$(cat)
    else
      echo "[Error] Missing input object to convert to table" >&2
      return 1
    fi
  fi

  local htmlTable="<table>\n"
  htmlTable+=$(printf '%b' "$_arg_inputObject" | head -n1 | awk -F "$_arg_delimiter" '{
    printf "<tr>"
    for (i=1; i<=NF; i+=1)
      { printf "<th>"$i"</th>" }
    printf "</tr>"
    }')
  htmlTable+="\n"
  htmlTable+=$(printf '%b' "$_arg_inputObject" | tail -n +2 | awk -F "$_arg_delimiter" '{
    printf "<tr>"
    for (i=1; i<=NF; i+=1)
      { printf "<td>"$i"</td>" }
    print "</tr>"
    }')
  htmlTable+="\n</table>"

  printf '%b' "$htmlTable" '\n'
}

# Parses command-line arguments and sets script variables accordingly.
parse_commandline() {
  while test $# -gt 0; do
    _key="$1"
    case "$_key" in
    --daysInactive | --daysinactive | --days | -d)
      test $# -lt 2 && die "Missing value for the required argument '$_key'." 1
      _arg_daysInactive=$2
      shift
      ;;
    --daysInactive=*)
      _arg_daysInactive="${_key##--daysInactive=}"
      ;;
    --multilineField | --multilinefield | --multiline | -m)
      test $# -lt 2 && die "Missing value for the optional argument '$_key'." 1
      _arg_multilineField=$2
      shift
      ;;
    --multilineField=*)
      _arg_multilineField="${_key##--multilineField=}"
      ;;
    --wysiwygField | --wysiwygfield | --wysiwyg | -w)
      test $# -lt 2 && die "Missing value for the optional argument '$_key'." 1
      _arg_wysiwygField=$2
      shift
      ;;
    --wysiwygField=*)
      _arg_wysiwygField="${_key##--wysiwygField=}"
      ;;
    --showDisabled | --showdisabled)
      _arg_showDisabled="on"
      ;;
    --help | -h)
      _PRINT_HELP=yes die 0
      ;;
    *)
      _PRINT_HELP=yes die "FATAL ERROR: Got an unexpected argument '$1'" 1
      ;;
    esac
    shift
  done
}

# Parses the command-line arguments passed to the script.
parse_commandline "$@"

# If dynamic script variables are used replace the commandline arguments with them.
if [[ -n  $daysInactive ]]; then
  _arg_daysInactive="$daysInactive"
fi

if [[ -n $includeDisabled && $includeDisabled == "true" ]]; then
  _arg_showDisabled="on"
fi

if [[ -n $multilineCustomFieldName ]]; then
  _arg_multilineField="$multilineCustomFieldName"
fi

if [[ -n $wysiwygCustomFieldName ]]; then
  _arg_wysiwygField="$wysiwygCustomFieldName"
fi

# Check if _arg_daysInactive contains any non-digit characters or is less than zero.
# If any of these conditions are true, display the help text and terminate with an error.
if [[ -z $_arg_daysInactive || $_arg_daysInactive =~ [^0-9]+ || $_arg_daysInactive -lt 0 ]]; then
  _PRINT_HELP=yes die "FATAL ERROR: Days Inactive of '$_arg_daysInactive' is invalid! Days Inactive must be a positive number." 1
fi

# Check if both _arg_multilineField and _arg_wysiwygField are set and not empty.
if [[ -n "$_arg_multilineField" && -n "$_arg_wysiwygField" ]]; then
  # Convert both field names to uppercase to check for equality.
  multiline=$( echo "$_arg_multilineField" | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' )
  wysiwyg=$( echo "$_arg_wysiwygField" | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' )

  # If the converted names are the same, it means both fields cannot be identical.
  # If they are, terminate the script with an error.
  if [[ "$multiline" == "$wysiwyg" ]]; then
    _PRINT_HELP=no die 'FATAL ERROR: Multline Field and WYSIWYG Field cannot be the same name. https://ninjarmm.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060920631-Custom-Fields-Configuration-Device-Role-Fields'
  fi
fi

# Retrieves the list of user accounts with UniqueIDs greater than 499 (typically these are all not service accounts) from the local user directory.
userAccounts=$(dscl . -list /Users UniqueID | awk '$2 > 499 {print $1}')

# Sets up a header string for the table that will display user account information.
header=$(printf '%s' "Username" ';' "Password Last Set" ';' "Last Logon" ';' "Enabled")

# Initializes an empty string to store information about relevant user accounts.
relevantAccounts=

# Iterates over each user account retrieved earlier.
for userAccount in $userAccounts; do
  # Extracts the last login information for that user, filtering out unnecessary lines and formatting.
  lastLogin=$(last -1 "$userAccount" | grep -v "wtmp" | grep "\S" | tr -s " " | cut -f3-6 -d " ")

  # Converts the last login date to seconds since the epoch, for easier date comparison.
  if [[ -n $lastLogin ]]; then
    lastLogin=$(date -j -f "%a %b %d %H:%M" "$lastLogin" +"%s")
  fi

  # Calculates the cutoff date in seconds since the epoch for inactivity comparison, based on the days inactive argument.
  if [[ $_arg_daysInactive -gt 0 ]]; then
    cutoffDate=$(date -v "-${_arg_daysInactive}d" "+%s")
  fi

  # Retrieves the timestamp when the password was last set for the user account and converts it to a readable format.
  passwordLastSet=$(dscl . -read "/Users/$userAccount" accountPolicyData | tail -n +2 | plutil -extract passwordLastSetTime xml1 -o - -- - | sed -n "s/<real>\([0-9]*\).*/\1/p")
  passwordLastSet=$(date -r "$passwordLastSet")

  # Checks if the user account is part of the group that defines disabled accounts, setting the 'enabled' variable accordingly.
  pwpolicy=$(dseditgroup -o checkmember -u "$userAccount" com.apple.access_disabled | grep "no $userAccount")
  authenticationAuthority=$(dscl . -read "/Users/$userAccount" AuthenticationAuthority | grep "DisabledUser")
  if [[ -n $pwpolicy && -z $authenticationAuthority ]]; then
    enabled="true"
  else
    enabled="false"
  fi

  # Checks if the account is inactive based on the last login date and cutoff date or if the account should be included regardless of its active status.
  if [[ $_arg_daysInactive == "0" || -z "$lastLogin" || $lastLogin -le $cutoffDate ]]; then
    # Formats the last login date or sets it to "Never" if the user has never logged in.
    if [[ -n $lastLogin ]]; then
      lastLogin=$(date -j -f "%s" "$lastLogin")
    else
      lastLogin="Never"
    fi

    # Skips adding disabled accounts to the output if they should not be shown.
    if [[ $_arg_showDisabled == "off" && $enabled == "false" ]]; then
      continue
    fi

    # Appends the account information to the 'relevantAccounts' string if it meets the criteria.
    relevantAccounts+=$(printf '%s' '\n' "$userAccount" ';' "$passwordLastSet" ';' "$lastLogin" ';' "$enabled")
    foundInactiveAccounts="true"
  fi
done

# Checks if there are any inactive accounts found.
if [[ $foundInactiveAccounts == "true" ]]; then
  # Formats a nice table for easier viewing
  tableView="$header"
  tableView+=$(printf '%s' '\n' "--------" ';' "-----------------" ';' "----------" ';' "-------")
  tableView+="$relevantAccounts"
  tableView=$(printf '%b' "$tableView" | sed 's/$/\n/' | column -s ';' -t)

  # Output to the activity log
  echo ""
  echo 'WARNING: Inactive accounts detected!'
  echo ""
  printf '%b' "$tableView"
  echo ""
else
  # If no inactive accounts were found, outputs a simple message.
  echo "No inactive accounts detected."
fi

# Checks if there is a multiline custom field set and if any inactive accounts have been found.
if [[ -n $_arg_multilineField && $foundInactiveAccounts == "true" ]]; then
  echo "" 
  echo "Attempting to set Custom Field '$_arg_multilineField'..."

  # Formats the relevantAccounts data for the multiline custom field.
  multilineValue=$(printf '%b' "$relevantAccounts" | grep "\S" | awk -F ";" '{ 
      print "Username: "$1
      print "Password Last Set: "$2
      print "Last Logon: "$3
      print "Enabled: "$4 
      print ""
  }')

  # Tries to set the multiline custom field using ninjarmm-cli and captures the output.
  if ! output=$(printf '%b' "$multilineValue" | /Applications/NinjaRMMAgent/programdata/ninjarmm-cli set --stdin "$_arg_multilineField" 2>&1); then
    echo "[Error] $output" >&2
    EXITCODE=1
  else
    echo "Successfully set Custom Field '$_arg_multilineField'!"
  fi
fi

# Checks if there is a WYSIWYG custom field set and if any inactive accounts have been found.
if [[ -n $_arg_wysiwygField && $foundInactiveAccounts == "true" ]]; then
  echo ""
  echo "Attempting to set Custom Field '$_arg_wysiwygField'..."

  # Initializes an HTML formatted string with headers and account details.
  htmlObject="$header"
  htmlObject+="$relevantAccounts"

  # Converts the text data to an HTML table format.
  htmlObject=$(convertToHTMLTable --delimiter ';' "$htmlObject")

  # Tries to set the WYSIWYG custom field using ninjarmm-cli and captures the output.
  if ! output=$(echo "$htmlObject" | /Applications/NinjaRMMAgent/programdata/ninjarmm-cli set --stdin "$_arg_wysiwygField" 2>&1); then
    echo "[Error] $output" >&2
    EXITCODE=1
  else
    echo "Successfully set Custom Field '$_arg_wysiwygField'!"
  fi
fi

# Checks if an error code is set and exits the script with that code.
if [[ -n $EXITCODE ]]; then
  exit "$EXITCODE"
fi

 

Detailed Breakdown

Let’s delve into the workings of this script step by step.

Preset Parameters

The script begins by defining several preset parameters:

• daysInactive: The number of days after which an account is considered inactive. Default is 90 days.

• showDisabled: Includes disabled accounts in the report.

• multilineField: Specifies a multiline custom field to save the results.

• wysiwygField: Specifies a WYSIWYG custom field to save the results.

• help: Displays help text.

Help Function

The print_help function provides usage instructions and descriptions for each parameter, ensuring users can correctly utilize the script.

Command-Line Argument Parsing

The script parses command-line arguments using the parse_commandline function. This function sets the appropriate script variables based on user input. It also includes validations to ensure the provided arguments are correct.

Inactivity Check

The core functionality involves checking user accounts for inactivity:

1. Retrieving User Accounts: It fetches user accounts with UniqueIDs greater than 499 (excluding service accounts).
2. Last Login and Password Set Time: For each account, it retrieves the last login time and the timestamp when the password was last set.
3. Inactivity Comparison: It compares the last login time with the current date minus the specified inactivity period (e.g., 90 days). Accounts that haven’t logged in within this period are flagged as inactive.

Report Generation

The script generates a detailed report of inactive accounts:

• Table Format: It creates a table format for easy viewing, displaying the username, password last set time, last login time, and whether the account is enabled.

• Custom Fields: If specified, it saves the results to custom fields using the NinjaRMM CLI tool.

Error Handling

The script includes robust error handling to manage invalid inputs and operational failures gracefully, ensuring reliability in various scenarios.

Potential Use Cases

Imagine an IT professional managing a company’s macOS fleet. Regularly, they need to audit user accounts to ensure compliance and security. By running this script weekly, they can automatically identify and report inactive accounts. For example, if an employee leaves the company, their account might be inactive for an extended period. The script alerts the IT professional, who then reviews and disables or removes the account, maintaining a clean and secure user directory.

Manual Auditing vs. Script Automation

Manual Auditing:

• Time-consuming and prone to errors.

• Requires consistent effort and diligence.

Script Automation:

• Efficient and accurate.

• Provides timely alerts, reducing the risk of overlooking inactive accounts.

Other Tools

While other tools and scripts might offer similar functionality, this script’s integration with NinjaRMM custom fields and its specific design for macOS environments set it apart. It provides a tailored solution for macOS administrators, leveraging native tools like dscl and dseditgroup.

FAQs

1) What does the script do if no inactive accounts are found?

If no inactive accounts are found, the script outputs a simple message: “No inactive accounts detected.”

2) Can the script include disabled accounts in the report?

Yes, by using the –showDisabled parameter, the script includes disabled accounts in the report.

3) How does the script handle errors?

The script includes comprehensive error handling to manage invalid inputs and operational failures, ensuring it performs reliably.

Implications

Identifying inactive accounts helps mitigate security risks. By proactively managing these accounts, organizations can prevent unauthorized access and ensure that their user directories remain accurate and secure. Regular use of this script supports compliance with security policies and reduces the attack surface.

Recommendations

When using this script:

• Schedule regular runs (e.g., weekly) to maintain up-to-date user activity reports.

• Combine with other security measures, such as regular password changes and account reviews.

• Customize the inactivity period based on organizational policies and requirements.

Final Thoughts

NinjaOne provides a robust platform for IT management, and integrating such scripts enhances its capabilities. This script, designed to alert about inactive user accounts on macOS, exemplifies how automation can improve security and efficiency. By leveraging NinjaOne’s custom fields and automation capabilities, IT professionals can streamline their workflows and focus on more strategic tasks.