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Disable macOS Firewall Logging
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disable_macos_firewall_logging.md
title Disable macOS Firewall Logging
date April 9, 2017
author Jon LaBelle
source https://jonlabelle.com/snippets/view/markdown/disable-macos-firewall-logging

Steps for disabling macOS Firewall logging to the appfirewall.log file.

NOTE: Only disables logging, not the Firewall itself.

Steps

  1. Convert the current com.apple.alf.plist plist binary file into XML text.
sudo plutil -convert xml1 /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist
  1. Open the converted com.apple.alf.plist XML file in vim.
sudo vim /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist
  • Search for the key loggingenabled:
    Esc /loggingenabled Enter
  • Change the integer value to 0 (zero) to disable logging
  • Save the the changes and quit vim:
    :wq
  1. Convert the com.apple.alf.plist plist file back into binary format.
sudo plutil -convert binary1 /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist

Verification

To verify that Firewall logging is now disabled...

  • Apple-menu -> About This Mac -> System Reports...
  • Network
    • Firewall
      • Logging: No

References

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