SV-253447r1268251: Caching of logon credentials must be limited. | Microsoft Windows 11 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Caching of logon credentials must be limited.

Description

Discussion Text

The default Windows configuration caches the last logon credentials for users who log on interactively to a system. This feature is provided for system availability reasons, such as the user's machine being disconnected from the network or domain controllers being unavailable. Even though the credential cache is well-protected, if a system is attacked, an unauthorized individual may isolate the password to a domain user account using a password-cracking program and gain access to the domain.

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000366

References

DPMS Target Microsoft Windows 11 DISA DPMS Target Microsoft Windows 11 5471

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

# Windows PowerShell
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.stig.windows11:def:253447
# Caching of logon credentials must be limited.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# 'Interactive logon: Number of previous logons to cache' is set to 10 or less
# registry_object (registry_test)
function test_1 {
  return (((@{String='reg_sz';ExpandString='reg_expand_sz';Binary='reg_binary';DWord='reg_dword';MultiString='reg_multi_sz';QWord='reg_qword';None='reg_none'}[(Get-Item -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon').GetValueKind('CachedLogonsCount').ToString()]) -eq 'reg_sz') -and (((Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon' -Name 'CachedLogonsCount' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'CachedLogonsCount') -le 10))
}

if (test_1) {
  Write-Output "PASS"
} else {
  Write-Output "FAIL"
}

Assessment Script Powered by AISyntax-verified

A standalone PowerShell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked as valid PowerShell. Not executed here — running it for real needs the actual ms_windows_11 target this check assesses.

# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.windows11:def:253447
if ((Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" -Name CachedLogonsCount -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).CachedLogonsCount -le 10) { Write-Output "PASS"; Exit 0 } else { Write-Output "FAIL"; Exit 1 }

Remediation

This is the default configuration for this setting (10 logons to cache).

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Local Policies >> Security Options >> "Interactive logon: Number of previous logons to cache (in case domain controller is not available)" to "10" logons or less.

This setting only applies to domain-joined systems, however, it is configured by default on all systems.