SV-225011r991589: Caching of logon credentials must be limited. | Microsoft Windows Server 2016 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-000366SV-88315V-73651

References

DPMS Target Microsoft Windows Server 2016 DISA DPMS Target Microsoft Windows Server 2016 4205

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

This applies to member servers. For domain controllers and standalone or nondomain-joined systems, this is NA.

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:  CachedLogonsCount

Value Type:  REG_SZ
Value:  4 (or less)

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.windows:def:1175
# 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.

# Verifies 'Interactive Logon: Number of previous logons to cache (in case domain controller is not available)' is set to '4' logons 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 4))
}
# If system is a Member Server
# wmi57_object (wmi57_test)
function test_2 {
  return (((Get-CimInstance -Namespace 'root\cimv2' -Query 'SELECT DomainRole FROM win32_computersystem' | Select-Object -First 1) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'DomainRole') -eq '3')
}

if ((test_1 -or -not (test_2))) {
  Write-Output "PASS"
} else {
  Write-Output "FAIL"
}

Remediation

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 "4" logons or less.