SV-225468r569185: Users must be warned in advance of their passwords expiring. | Microsoft Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 Member Server STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Users must be warned in advance of their passwords expiring.

Description

Discussion Text

Creating strong passwords that can be remembered by users requires some thought. By giving the user advance warning, the user has time to construct a sufficiently strong password. This setting configures the system to display a warning to users telling them how many days are left before their password expires.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000366CCE-23704-0SV-52876V-1172

References

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

Checks

OVAL

oval:mil.disa.fso.windows:var:455500 ← xccdf_mil.disa.stig_value_prompt_user_to_change_password_before_expiration_var

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

If the following registry value does not exist or is not configured as specified, this is a finding:

Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE 
Registry Path: \Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\

Value Name: PasswordExpiryWarning

Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 14 (or greater)

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.fso.windows:def:4555
# Users must be warned in advance of their passwords expiring.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Verifies 'Interactive logon: Prompt user to change password before expiration' is set for '14' days or more
# 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('PasswordExpiryWarning').ToString()]) -eq 'reg_dword') -and (((Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon' -Name 'PasswordExpiryWarning' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'PasswordExpiryWarning') -ge 14))
}

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_2012_and_2012_r2_ms target this check assesses.

# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.fso.windows:def:4555
$registryPath = "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"
if (Test-Path $registryPath) {
    $regValue = Get-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -Name "PasswordExpiryWarning" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($regValue -and $regValue.PasswordExpiryWarning -ge 14) {
        Write-Output "PASS"
        Exit 0
    }
}
Write-Output "FAIL"
Exit 1

Remediation

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options -> "Interactive Logon: Prompt user to change password before expiration" to "14" days or more.