SV-225313r569185: Event Viewer must be protected from unauthorized modification and deletion. | Microsoft Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 Member Server STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Event Viewer must be protected from unauthorized modification and deletion.

Description

Discussion Text

Protecting audit information also includes identifying and protecting the tools used to view and manipulate log data. Therefore, protecting audit tools is necessary to prevent unauthorized operation on audit information. Operating systems providing tools to interface with audit information will leverage user permissions and roles identifying the user accessing the tools and the corresponding rights the user enjoys in order to make access decisions regarding the modification or deletion of audit tools.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-001494Not mappedCCI-001495SV-72135V-57721

References

DPMS Target Microsoft Windows Server 2012-2012 R2 MS DISA DPMS Target Microsoft Windows Server 2012-2012 R2 MS 4214

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

Verify the permissions on Event Viewer only allow TrustedInstaller permissions to change or modify.  If any groups or accounts other than TrustedInstaller have Full control or Modify, this is a finding.

Navigate to "%SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32".
View the permissions on "Eventvwr.exe".

The default permissions below satisfy this requirement.
TrustedInstaller - Full Control
Administrators, SYSTEM, Users, ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES - Read & Execute

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.

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_2012_and_2012_r2_ms target this check assesses.

# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.fso.windows:def:4984
$eventvwrPath = "$env:SystemRoot\SYSTEM32\Eventvwr.exe"
if (-not (Test-Path -Path $eventvwrPath)) { exit 1 }
$fileRights = Get-Acl -Path $eventvwrPath | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Access | Where-Object { $_.IdentityReference -like 'BUILTIN\Administrators' -or $_.IdentityReference -like 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM' -or $_.IdentityReference -like 'BUILTIN\Users' -or $_.IdentityReference -like 'ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES' }
if ($fileRights -and ($fileRights | Where-Object { -not ($_.FileSystemRights -contains [System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemRights]::ReadAndExecute) }).Count -eq 0) { exit 1 }
$result = Get-Acl -Path $eventvwrPath | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Access | Where-Object { $_.IdentityReference -like 'NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller' }
if ($result -and ($result | Where-Object { -not ($_.FileSystemRights -contains [System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemRights]::FullControl) }).Count -eq 0) { exit 1 }
exit 0

Remediation

Ensure only TrustedInstaller has permissions to change or modify Event Viewer ("%SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32\Eventvwr.exe).

The default permissions below satisfy this requirement.
TrustedInstaller - Full Control
Administrators, SYSTEM, Users, ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES - Read & Execute