Search filters the loaded rule list locally. Separate terms must all match (use quotes for an exact phrase).
Objective ID
Severity
Discussion
medium
Credential Guard uses virtualization-based security to protect data that could be used in credential theft attacks if compromised. A number of system requirements must be met for Credential Guard to be configured and enabled properly. Without a TPM enabled and ready for use, Credential Guard keys are stored in a less secure method using software.
medium
Systems at unsupported servicing levels will not receive security updates for new vulnerabilities, which leave them subject to exploitation. Systems must be maintained at a servicing level supported by the vendor with new security updates. For Windows Server 2022, Microsoft made the following statement at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/servicing/os/windows-server/2026/08/kb5120242-windows-server-2022-security-update regarding ongoing OS support:
"On October 13, 2026, Windows Server 2022 will reach end of mainstream support. The October 2026 security update will be the last mainstream support update available for this version. After this date, Windows Server 2022 will transition to extended support, which includes security updates at no additional cost, and will continue to receive monthly security updates through October 14, 2031."
The Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) remains the standard support branch for Enterprise server platforms. The guidance in this rule assumes usage via this support channel.
high
The ability to set access permissions and auditing is critical to maintaining the security and proper access controls of a system. To support this, volumes must be formatted using a file system that supports NTFS attributes.
medium
Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption or may provide unauthorized access to the system.
medium
Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption.
medium
Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption or may provide unauthorized access to the system.
medium
Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption or may provide unauthorized access to the system.
medium
Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption or may provide unauthorized access to the system.
medium
Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption or may provide unauthorized access to the system.
medium
SMBv1 is a legacy protocol that uses the MD5 algorithm as part of SMB. MD5 is known to be vulnerable to a number of attacks such as collision and preimage attacks and is not FIPS compliant.
medium
SMBv1 is a legacy protocol that uses the MD5 algorithm as part of SMB. MD5 is known to be vulnerable to a number of attacks such as collision and preimage attacks as well as not being FIPS compliant.
medium
SMBv1 is a legacy protocol that uses the MD5 algorithm as part of SMB. MD5 is known to be vulnerable to a number of attacks such as collision and preimage attacks as well as not being FIPS compliant.
medium
Windows PowerShell 5.x added advanced logging features that can provide additional detail when malware has been run on a system. Disabling the Windows PowerShell 2.0 mitigates against a downgrade attack that evades the Windows PowerShell 5.x script block logging feature.
medium
The account lockout feature, when enabled, prevents brute-force password attacks on the system. This parameter specifies the period of time that an account will remain locked after the specified number of failed logon attempts.
medium
The account lockout feature, when enabled, prevents brute-force password attacks on the system. The higher this value is, the less effective the account lockout feature will be in protecting the local system. The number of bad logon attempts must be reasonably small to minimize the possibility of a successful password attack while allowing for honest errors made during normal user logon.
medium
The account lockout feature, when enabled, prevents brute-force password attacks on the system. This parameter specifies the period of time that must pass after failed logon attempts before the counter is reset to "0". The smaller this value is, the less effective the account lockout feature will be in protecting the local system.
medium
A system is more vulnerable to unauthorized access when system users recycle the same password several times without being required to change to a unique password on a regularly scheduled basis. This enables users to effectively negate the purpose of mandating periodic password changes. The default value is "24" for Windows domain systems. DoW has decided this is the appropriate value for all Windows systems.
medium
The longer a password is in use, the greater the opportunity for someone to gain unauthorized knowledge of the passwords. Scheduled changing of passwords hinders the ability of unauthorized system users to crack passwords and gain access to a system.
medium
Permitting passwords to be changed in immediate succession within the same day allows users to cycle passwords through their history database. This enables users to effectively negate the purpose of mandating periodic password changes.
medium
Information systems not protected with strong password schemes (including passwords of minimum length) provide the opportunity for anyone to crack the password, thus gaining access to the system and compromising the device, information, or the local network.
medium
The use of complex passwords increases their strength against attack. The built-in Windows password complexity policy requires passwords to contain at least three of the four types of characters (numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters, and special characters) and prevents the inclusion of user names or parts of user names.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037, SRG-OS-000070-GPOS-00038, SRG-OS-000071-GPOS-00039, SRG-OS-000266-GPOS-00101
high
Storing passwords using reversible encryption is essentially the same as storing clear-text versions of the passwords, which are easily compromised. For this reason, this policy must never be enabled.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. The Application event log may be susceptible to tampering if proper permissions are not applied.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. The Security event log may disclose sensitive information or be susceptible to tampering if proper permissions are not applied.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. The System event log may be susceptible to tampering if proper permissions are not applied.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029
medium
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 to make access decisions regarding the modification or deletion of audit tools.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000257-GPOS-00098, SRG-OS-000258-GPOS-00099
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Credential Validation records events related to validation tests on credentials for a user account logon.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Credential Validation records events related to validation tests on credentials for a user account logon.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Other Account Management Events records events such as the access of a password hash or the Password Policy Checking API being called.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000064-GPOS-00033, SRG-OS-000462-GPOS-00206, SRG-OS-000466-GPOS-00210
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Security Group Management records events such as creating, deleting, or changing security groups, including changes in group members.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004, SRG-OS-000239-GPOS-00089, SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000241-GPOS-00091, SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
User Account Management records events such as creating, changing, deleting, renaming, disabling, or enabling user accounts.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004, SRG-OS-000239-GPOS-00089, SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000241-GPOS-00091, SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
User Account Management records events such as creating, changing, deleting, renaming, disabling, or enabling user accounts.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004, SRG-OS-000239-GPOS-00089, SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000241-GPOS-00091, SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Plug and Play activity records events related to the successful connection of external devices.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Process Creation records events related to the creation of a process and the source.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Account Lockout events can be used to identify potentially malicious logon attempts.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Audit Group Membership records information related to the group membership of a user's logon token.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Logoff records user logoffs. If this is an interactive logoff, it is recorded on the local system. If it is to a network share, it is recorded on the system accessed.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Logon records user logons. If this is an interactive logon, it is recorded on the local system. If it is to a network share, it is recorded on the system accessed.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000032-GPOS-00013, SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214, SRG-OS-000472-GPOS-00217, SRG-OS-000473-GPOS-00218, SRG-OS-000475-GPOS-00220
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Logon records user logons. If this is an interactive logon, it is recorded on the local system. If it is to a network share, it is recorded on the system accessed.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000032-GPOS-00013, SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214, SRG-OS-000472-GPOS-00217, SRG-OS-000473-GPOS-00218, SRG-OS-000475-GPOS-00220
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Special Logon records special logons that have administrative privileges and can be used to elevate processes.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214, SRG-OS-000472-GPOS-00217, SRG-OS-000473-GPOS-00218, SRG-OS-000475-GPOS-00220
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Auditing for other object access records events related to the management of task scheduler jobs and COM+ objects.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Auditing for other object access records events related to the management of task scheduler jobs and COM+ objects.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Removable Storage auditing under Object Access records events related to access attempts on file system objects on removable storage devices.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Removable Storage auditing under Object Access records events related to access attempts on file system objects on removable storage devices.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Audit Policy Change records events related to changes in audit policy.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Audit Policy Change records events related to changes in audit policy.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Authentication Policy Change records events related to changes in authentication policy, including Kerberos policy and Trust changes.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000064-GPOS-00033, SRG-OS-000462-GPOS-00206, SRG-OS-000466-GPOS-00210
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Authorization Policy Change records events related to changes in user rights, such as "Create a token object".
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000064-GPOS-00033, SRG-OS-000462-GPOS-00206, SRG-OS-000466-GPOS-00210
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Sensitive Privilege Use records events related to use of sensitive privileges, such as "Act as part of the operating system" or "Debug programs".
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000064-GPOS-00033, SRG-OS-000462-GPOS-00206, SRG-OS-000466-GPOS-00210
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Sensitive Privilege Use records events related to use of sensitive privileges, such as "Act as part of the operating system" or "Debug programs".
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000064-GPOS-00033, SRG-OS-000462-GPOS-00206, SRG-OS-000466-GPOS-00210
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
IPsec Driver records events related to the IPsec Driver, such as dropped packets.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
IPsec Driver records events related to the IPsec Driver, such as dropped packets.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Audit Other System Events records information related to cryptographic key operations and the Windows Firewall service.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Audit Other System Events records information related to cryptographic key operations and the Windows Firewall service.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Security State Change records events related to changes in the security state, such as startup and shutdown of the system.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Security System Extension records events related to extension code being loaded by the security subsystem.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
System Integrity records events related to violations of integrity to the security subsystem.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215, SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00216, SRG-OS-000477-GPOS-00222
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
System Integrity records events related to violations of integrity to the security subsystem.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215, SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00216, SRG-OS-000477-GPOS-00222
medium
Slide shows that are displayed on the lock screen could display sensitive information to unauthorized personnel. Turning off this feature will limit access to the information to a logged-on user.
medium
When the WDigest Authentication protocol is enabled, plain-text passwords are stored in the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS), exposing them to theft. WDigest is disabled by default in Windows Server 2022. This setting ensures this is enforced.
low
Configuring the system to disable IPv6 source routing protects against spoofing.
low
Allowing ICMP redirect of routes can lead to traffic not being routed properly. When disabled, this forces ICMP to be routed via the shortest path first.
low
Configuring the system to ignore name release requests, except from WINS servers, prevents a denial of service (DoS) attack. The DoS consists of sending a NetBIOS name release request to the server for each entry in the server's cache, causing a response delay in the normal operation of the server's WINS resolution capability.
medium
Insecure guest logons allow unauthenticated access to shared folders. Shared resources on a system must require authentication to establish proper access.
medium
Additional security requirements are applied to UNC paths specified in hardened UNC paths before allowing access to them. This aids in preventing tampering with or spoofing of connections to these paths.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Enabling "Include command line data for process creation events" will record the command line information with the process creation events in the log. This can provide additional detail when malware has run on a system.
medium
An exportable version of credentials is provided to remote hosts when using credential delegation which exposes them to theft on the remote host. Restricted Admin mode or Remote Credential Guard allow delegation of nonexportable credentials providing additional protection of the credentials. Enabling this configures the host to support Restricted Admin mode or Remote Credential Guard.
medium
Compromised boot drivers can introduce malware prior to protection mechanisms that load after initialization. The Early Launch Antimalware driver can limit allowed drivers based on classifications determined by the malware protection application. At a minimum, drivers determined to be bad must not be allowed.
medium
Registry entries for group policy settings can potentially be changed from the required configuration. This could occur as part of troubleshooting or by a malicious process on a compromised system. Enabling this setting and then selecting the "Process even if the Group Policy objects have not changed" option ensures the policies will be reprocessed even if none have been changed. This way, any unauthorized changes are forced to match the domain-based group policy settings again.
medium
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Turning off this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise and will prevent uncontrolled updates to the system.
This setting prevents the computer from downloading print driver packages over HTTP.
medium
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Turning off this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise and will prevent uncontrolled updates to the system.
This setting prevents the client computer from printing over HTTP, which allows the computer to print to printers on the intranet as well as the internet.
medium
Enabling interaction with the network selection UI allows users to change connections to available networks without signing in to Windows.
medium
A system that does not require authentication when resuming from sleep may provide access to unauthorized users. Authentication must always be required when accessing a system. This setting ensures users are prompted for a password when the system wakes from sleep (on battery).
medium
A system that does not require authentication when resuming from sleep may provide access to unauthorized users. Authentication must always be required when accessing a system. This setting ensures users are prompted for a password when the system wakes from sleep (plugged in).
low
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Turning off this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise and will prevent uncontrolled updates to the system.
This setting will prevent the Program Inventory from collecting data about a system and sending the information to Microsoft.
high
Allowing AutoPlay to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. AutoPlay begins reading from a drive as soon as media is inserted into the drive. As a result, the setup file of programs or music on audio media may start. This setting will disable AutoPlay for nonvolume devices, such as Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) devices.
high
Allowing AutoRun commands to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. Configuring this setting prevents AutoRun commands from executing.
high
Allowing AutoPlay to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. AutoPlay begins reading from a drive as soon media is inserted into the drive. As a result, the setup file of programs or music on audio media may start. By default, AutoPlay is disabled on removable drives, such as the floppy disk drive (but not the CD-ROM drive) and on network drives. Enabling this policy disables AutoPlay on all drives.
medium
Enumeration of administrator accounts when elevating can provide part of the logon information to an unauthorized user. This setting configures the system to always require users to type in a username and password to elevate a running application.
medium
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Limiting this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise. The "send required diagnostic data" option for Allow Diagnostic Data configures the lowest amount of data, effectively none outside of the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), Defender, and Diagnostic Data client settings. "Optional Diagnostic Data" sends basic diagnostic and usage data and may be required to support some Microsoft services.
low
Windows Update can obtain updates from additional sources instead of Microsoft. In addition to Microsoft, updates can be obtained from and sent to PCs on the local network as well as on the internet. This is part of the Windows Update trusted process; however, to minimize outside exposure, obtaining updates from or sending to systems on the internet must be prevented.
medium
Inadequate log size will cause the log to fill up quickly. This may prevent audit events from being recorded properly and require frequent attention by administrative personnel.
medium
Inadequate log size will cause the log to fill up quickly. This may prevent audit events from being recorded properly and require frequent attention by administrative personnel. System administrators (SAs) must monitor the volume of security event audit records and increase the registry value for the log size as needed.
medium
Inadequate log size will cause the log to fill up quickly. This may prevent audit events from being recorded properly and require frequent attention by administrative personnel.
medium
Microsoft Defender antivirus SmartScreen helps protect systems from programs downloaded from the internet that may be malicious. Enabling SmartScreen can block potentially malicious programs or warn users.
medium
Data Execution Prevention provides additional protection by performing checks on memory to help prevent malicious code from running. This setting will prevent Data Execution Prevention from being turned off for File Explorer.
low
Legacy plug-in applications may continue to function when a File Explorer session has become corrupt. Disabling this feature will prevent this.
medium
The shell protocol will limit the set of folders that applications can open when run in protected mode. Restricting files an application can open to a limited set of folders increases the security of Windows.
medium
Saving passwords in the Remote Desktop Client could allow an unauthorized user to establish a remote desktop session to another system. The system must be configured to prevent users from saving passwords in the Remote Desktop Client.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157
medium
Preventing users from sharing the local drives on their client computers with Remote Session Hosts that they access helps reduce possible exposure of sensitive data.
medium
This setting controls the ability of users to supply passwords automatically as part of their remote desktop connection. Disabling this setting would allow anyone to use the stored credentials in a connection item to connect to the terminal server.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157
medium
Allowing unsecure RPC communication exposes the system to man-in-the-middle attacks and data disclosure attacks. A man-in-the-middle attack occurs when an intruder captures packets between a client and server and modifies them before allowing the packets to be exchanged. Usually the attacker will modify the information in the packets in an attempt to cause either the client or server to reveal sensitive information.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000033-GPOS-00014, SRG-OS-000250-GPOS-00093
medium
Remote connections must be encrypted to prevent interception of data or sensitive information. Selecting "High Level" will ensure encryption of Remote Desktop Services sessions in both directions.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000033-GPOS-00014, SRG-OS-000250-GPOS-00093
medium
Attachments from RSS feeds may not be secure. This setting will prevent attachments from being downloaded from RSS feeds.
medium
Basic authentication uses plain-text passwords that could be used to compromise a system. Disabling Basic authentication will reduce this potential.
medium
Indexing of encrypted files may expose sensitive data. This setting prevents encrypted files from being indexed.
medium
Installation options for applications are typically controlled by administrators. This setting prevents users from changing installation options that may bypass security features.
high
Standard user accounts must not be granted elevated privileges. Enabling Windows Installer to elevate privileges when installing applications can allow malicious persons and applications to gain full control of a system.
medium
Web-based programs may attempt to install malicious software on a system. Ensuring users are notified if a web-based program attempts to install software allows them to refuse the installation.
medium
Windows can be configured to automatically sign the user back in after a Windows Update restart. Some protections are in place to help ensure this is done in a secure fashion; however, disabling this will prevent the caching of credentials for this purpose and also ensure the user is aware of the restart.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Enabling PowerShell script block logging will record detailed information from the processing of PowerShell commands and scripts. This can provide additional detail when malware has run on a system.
high
Basic authentication uses plain-text passwords that could be used to compromise a system. Disabling Basic authentication will reduce this potential.
medium
Unencrypted remote access to a system can allow sensitive information to be compromised. Windows remote management connections must be encrypted to prevent this.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000393-GPOS-00173, SRG-OS-000394-GPOS-00174
medium
Digest authentication is not as strong as other options and may be subject to man-in-the-middle attacks. Disallowing Digest authentication will reduce this potential.
high
Basic authentication uses plain-text passwords that could be used to compromise a system. Disabling Basic authentication will reduce this potential.
medium
Unencrypted remote access to a system can allow sensitive information to be compromised. Windows remote management connections must be encrypted to prevent this.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000393-GPOS-00173, SRG-OS-000394-GPOS-00174
medium
Storage of administrative credentials could allow unauthorized access. Disallowing the storage of RunAs credentials for Windows Remote Management will prevent them from being used with plug-ins.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157
medium
This policy setting determines whether the Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) validates every request for a session ticket against the user rights policy of the target computer. The policy is enabled by default, which is the most secure setting for validating that access to target resources is not circumvented.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000112-GPOS-00057, SRG-OS-000113-GPOS-00058
medium
This setting determines the maximum amount of time (in minutes) that a granted session ticket can be used to access a particular service. Session tickets are used only to authenticate new connections with servers. Ongoing operations are not interrupted if the session ticket used to authenticate the connection expires during the connection.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000112-GPOS-00057, SRG-OS-000113-GPOS-00058
medium
In Kerberos, there are two types of tickets: Ticket Granting Tickets (TGTs) and Service Tickets. Kerberos tickets have a limited lifetime so the time an attacker has to implement an attack is limited. This policy controls how long TGTs can be renewed. With Kerberos, the user's initial authentication to the domain controller results in a TGT, which is then used to request Service Tickets to resources. Upon startup, each computer gets a TGT before requesting a service ticket to the domain controller and any other computers it needs to access. For services that start up under a specified user account, users must always get a TGT first and then get Service Tickets to all computers and services accessed.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000112-GPOS-00057, SRG-OS-000113-GPOS-00058
medium
This setting determines the period of time (in days) during which a user's Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT) may be renewed. This security configuration limits the amount of time an attacker has to crack the TGT and gain access.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000112-GPOS-00057, SRG-OS-000113-GPOS-00058
medium
This setting determines the maximum time difference (in minutes) that Kerberos will tolerate between the time on a client's clock and the time on a server's clock while still considering the two clocks synchronous. To prevent replay attacks, Kerberos uses timestamps as part of its protocol definition. For timestamps to work properly, the clocks of the client and the server need to be in sync as much as possible.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000112-GPOS-00057, SRG-OS-000113-GPOS-00058
high
Improper access permissions for directory data-related files could allow unauthorized users to read, modify, or delete directory data or audit trails.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125, SRG-OS-000206-GPOS-00084
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Computer Account Management records events such as creating, changing, deleting, renaming, disabling, or enabling computer accounts.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004, SRG-OS-000239-GPOS-00089, SRG-OS-000240-GPOS-00090, SRG-OS-000241-GPOS-00091, SRG-OS-000303-GPOS-00120, SRG-OS-000476-GPOS-00221
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Audit Directory Service Access records events related to users accessing an Active Directory object.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Audit Directory Service Access records events related to users accessing an Active Directory object.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.
Audit Directory Service Changes records events related to changes made to objects in Active Directory Domain Services.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212
medium
Unsigned network traffic is susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks, where an intruder captures packets between the server and the client and modifies them before forwarding them to the client. In the case of an LDAP server, this means that an attacker could cause a client to make decisions based on false records from the LDAP directory. The risk of an attacker pulling this off can be decreased by implementing strong physical security measures to protect the network infrastructure. Furthermore, implementing Internet Protocol security (IPsec) authentication header mode (AH), which performs mutual authentication and packet integrity for Internet Protocol (IP) traffic, can make all types of man-in-the-middle attacks extremely difficult.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188
medium
Enabling this setting on all domain controllers in a domain prevents domain members from changing their computer account passwords. If these passwords are weak or compromised, the inability to change them may leave these computers vulnerable.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Access this computer from the network" right may access resources on the system, and this right must be limited to those requiring it.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Add workstations to domain" right may add computers to a domain. This could result in unapproved or incorrectly configured systems being added to a domain.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Allow log on through Remote Desktop Services" user right can access a system through Remote Desktop.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny access to this computer from the network" user right defines the accounts that are prevented from logging on from the network.
The Guests group must be assigned this right to prevent unauthenticated access.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on as a batch job" user right defines accounts that are prevented from logging on to the system as a batch job, such as Task Scheduler.
The Guests group must be assigned to prevent unauthenticated access.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on as a service" user right defines accounts that are denied logon as a service.
Incorrect configurations could prevent services from starting and result in a denial of service.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on locally" user right defines accounts that are prevented from logging on interactively.
The Guests group must be assigned this right to prevent unauthenticated access.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services" user right defines the accounts that are prevented from logging on using Remote Desktop Services.
The Guests group must be assigned this right to prevent unauthenticated access.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation" user right allows the "Trusted for Delegation" setting to be changed. This could allow unauthorized users to impersonate other users.
medium
A compromised local administrator account can provide means for an attacker to move laterally between domain systems.
With User Account Control enabled, filtering the privileged token for local administrator accounts will prevent the elevated privileges of these accounts from being used over the network.
medium
The username is one part of logon credentials that could be used to gain access to a system. Preventing the enumeration of users limits this information to authorized personnel.
medium
Unauthenticated RPC clients may allow anonymous access to sensitive information. Configuring RPC to restrict unauthenticated RPC clients from connecting to the RPC server will prevent anonymous connections.
medium
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.
medium
The Windows SAM stores users' passwords. Restricting Remote Procedure Call (RPC) connections to the SAM to Administrators helps protect those credentials.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Access this computer from the network" user right may access resources on the system, and this right must be limited to those requiring it.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny access to this computer from the network" user right defines the accounts that are prevented from logging on from the network.
In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower-trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks, which could lead to the compromise of an entire domain.
Local accounts on domain-joined systems must also be assigned this right to decrease the risk of lateral movement resulting from credential theft attacks.
The Guests group must be assigned this right to prevent unauthenticated access.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on as a batch job" user right defines accounts that are prevented from logging on to the system as a batch job, such as Task Scheduler.
In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower-trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks, which could lead to the compromise of an entire domain.
The Guests group must be assigned to prevent unauthenticated access.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on as a service" user right defines accounts that are denied logon as a service.
In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower-trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks, which could lead to the compromise of an entire domain.
Incorrect configurations could prevent services from starting and result in a denial of service.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on locally" user right defines accounts that are prevented from logging on interactively.
In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower-trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks, which could lead to the compromise of an entire domain.
The Guests group must be assigned this right to prevent unauthenticated access.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services" user right defines the accounts that are prevented from logging on using Remote Desktop Services.
In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower-trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks, which could lead to the compromise of an entire domain.
Local accounts on domain-joined systems must also be assigned this right to decrease the risk of lateral movement resulting from credential theft attacks.
The Guests group must be assigned this right to prevent unauthenticated access.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation" user right allows the "Trusted for Delegation" setting to be changed. This could allow unauthorized users to impersonate other users.
medium
To ensure secure DoW websites and DoW-signed code are properly validated, the system must trust the DoW Root CAs. The DoW root certificates will ensure that the trust chain is established for server certificates issued from the DoW CAs.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000066-GPOS-00034, SRG-OS-000403-GPOS-00182
medium
To ensure users do not experience denial of service when performing certificate-based authentication to DoW websites due to the system chaining to a root other than DoW Root CAs, the DoW Interoperability Root CA cross-certificates must be installed in the Untrusted Certificate Store. This requirement only applies to unclassified systems.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000066-GPOS-00034, SRG-OS-000403-GPOS-00182
medium
To ensure users do not experience denial of service when performing certificate-based authentication to DoW websites due to the system chaining to a root other than DoW Root CAs, the US DoW CCEB Interoperability Root CA cross-certificates must be installed in the Untrusted Certificate Store. This requirement only applies to unclassified systems.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000066-GPOS-00034, SRG-OS-000403-GPOS-00182
medium
A system faces an increased vulnerability threat if the built-in guest account is not disabled. This is a known account that exists on all Windows systems and cannot be deleted. This account is initialized during the installation of the operating system with no password assigned.
high
An account without a password can allow unauthorized access to a system as only the username would be required. Password policies must prevent accounts with blank passwords from existing on a system. However, if a local account with a blank password does exist, enabling this setting will prevent network access, limiting the account to local console logon only.
medium
The built-in administrator account is a well-known account subject to attack. Renaming this account to an unidentified name improves the protection of this account and the system.
medium
The built-in guest account is a well-known user account on all Windows systems and, as initially installed, does not require a password. This can allow access to system resources by unauthorized users. Renaming this account to an unidentified name improves the protection of this account and the system.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. This setting allows administrators to enable more precise auditing capabilities.
medium
Requests sent on the secure channel are authenticated, and sensitive information (such as passwords) is encrypted, but not all information is encrypted. If this policy is enabled, outgoing secure channel traffic will be encrypted and signed.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188
medium
Requests sent on the secure channel are authenticated, and sensitive information (such as passwords) is encrypted, but not all information is encrypted. If this policy is enabled, outgoing secure channel traffic will be encrypted.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188
medium
Requests sent on the secure channel are authenticated, and sensitive information (such as passwords) is encrypted, but the channel is not integrity checked. If this policy is enabled, outgoing secure channel traffic will be signed.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188
medium
Computer account passwords are changed automatically on a regular basis. Disabling automatic password changes can make the system more vulnerable to malicious access. Frequent password changes can be a significant safeguard for the system. A new password for the computer account will be generated every 30 days.
medium
Computer account passwords are changed automatically on a regular basis. This setting controls the maximum password age that a machine account may have. This must be set to no more than 30 days, ensuring the machine changes its password monthly.
medium
A computer connecting to a domain controller will establish a secure channel. The secure channel connection may be subject to compromise, such as hijacking or eavesdropping, if strong session keys are not used to establish the connection. Requiring strong session keys enforces 128-bit encryption between systems.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188
medium
Unattended systems are susceptible to unauthorized use and must be locked when unattended. The screen saver must be set at a maximum of 15 minutes and be password protected. This protects critical and sensitive data from exposure to unauthorized personnel with physical access to the computer.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000028-GPOS-00009, SRG-OS-000029-GPOS-00010, SRG-OS-000031-GPOS-00012
medium
Unattended systems are susceptible to unauthorized use and must be locked. Configuring a system to lock when a smart card is removed will ensure the system is inaccessible when unattended.
medium
The server message block (SMB) protocol provides the basis for many network operations. Digitally signed SMB packets aid in preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. If this policy is enabled, the SMB client will only communicate with an SMB server that performs SMB packet signing.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188
medium
The server message block (SMB) protocol provides the basis for many network operations. If this policy is enabled, the SMB client will request packet signing when communicating with an SMB server that is enabled or required to perform SMB packet signing.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188
medium
Some non-Microsoft SMB servers only support unencrypted (plain-text) password authentication. Sending plain-text passwords across the network when authenticating to an SMB server reduces the overall security of the environment. Check with the vendor of the SMB server to determine if there is a way to support encrypted password authentication.
medium
The server message block (SMB) protocol provides the basis for many network operations. Digitally signed SMB packets aid in preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. If this policy is enabled, the SMB server will only communicate with an SMB client that performs SMB packet signing.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188
medium
The server message block (SMB) protocol provides the basis for many network operations. Digitally signed SMB packets aid in preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. If this policy is enabled, the SMB server will negotiate SMB packet signing as requested by the client.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187, SRG-OS-000424-GPOS-00188
high
Allowing anonymous SID/Name translation can provide sensitive information for accessing a system. Only authorized users must be able to perform such translations.
high
Anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts allows anonymous logon users (null session connections) to list all accounts names, thus providing a list of potential points to attack the system.
high
Allowing anonymous logon users (null session connections) to list all account names and enumerate all shared resources can provide a map of potential points to attack the system.
medium
Access by anonymous users must be restricted. If this setting is enabled, anonymous users have the same rights and permissions as the built-in Everyone group. Anonymous users must not have these permissions or rights.
high
Allowing anonymous access to named pipes or shares provides the potential for unauthorized system access. This setting restricts access to those defined in "Network access: Named Pipes that can be accessed anonymously" and "Network access: Shares that can be accessed anonymously", both of which must be blank under other requirements.
medium
Services using Local System that use Negotiate when reverting to NTLM authentication may gain unauthorized access if allowed to authenticate anonymously versus using the computer identity.
medium
NTLM sessions that are allowed to fall back to Null (unauthenticated) sessions may gain unauthorized access.
medium
PKU2U is a peer-to-peer authentication protocol. This setting prevents online identities from authenticating to domain-joined systems. Authentication will be centrally managed with Windows user accounts.
medium
Certain encryption types are no longer considered secure. The DES and RC4 encryption suites must not be used for Kerberos encryption.
Note: Organizations with domain controllers running earlier versions of Windows where RC4 encryption is enabled, selecting "The other domain supports Kerberos AES Encryption" on domain trusts, may be required to allow client communication across the trust relationship.
high
The LAN Manager hash uses a weak encryption algorithm and there are several tools available that use this hash to retrieve account passwords. This setting controls whether a LAN Manager hash of the password is stored in the SAM the next time the password is changed.
high
The Kerberos v5 authentication protocol is the default for authentication of users who are logging on to domain accounts. NTLM, which is less secure, is retained in later Windows versions for compatibility with clients and servers that are running earlier versions of Windows or applications that still use it. It is also used to authenticate logons to standalone or nondomain-joined computers that are running later versions.
medium
This setting controls the signing requirements for LDAP clients. This must be set to "Negotiate signing" or "Require signing", depending on the environment and type of LDAP server in use.
medium
Microsoft has implemented a variety of security support providers for use with Remote Procedure Call (RPC) sessions. All of the options must be enabled to ensure the maximum security level.
medium
Microsoft has implemented a variety of security support providers for use with Remote Procedure Call (RPC) sessions. All of the options must be enabled to ensure the maximum security level.
medium
If the private key is discovered, an attacker can use the key to authenticate as an authorized user and gain access to the network infrastructure.
The cornerstone of the PKI is the private key used to encrypt or digitally sign information.
If the private key is stolen, this will lead to the compromise of the authentication and nonrepudiation gained through PKI because the attacker can use the private key to digitally sign documents and pretend to be the authorized user.
Both the holders of a digital certificate and the issuing authority must protect the computers, storage devices, or whatever they use to keep the private keys.
medium
This setting ensures the system uses algorithms that are FIPS-compliant for encryption, hashing, and signing. FIPS-compliant algorithms meet specific standards established by the U.S. Government and must be the algorithms used for all OS encryption functions.
low
Windows systems maintain a global list of shared system resources such as DOS device names, mutexes, and semaphores. Each type of object is created with a default Discretionary Access Control List (DACL) that specifies who can access the objects with what permissions. When this policy is enabled, the default DACL is stronger, allowing nonadministrative users to read shared objects but not to modify shared objects they did not create.
medium
UAC is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures the built-in Administrator account so that it runs in Admin Approval Mode.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157
medium
User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting prevents User Interface Accessibility programs from disabling the secure desktop for elevation prompts.
medium
UAC is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures the elevation requirements for logged-on administrators to complete a task that requires raised privileges.
medium
UAC is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting controls the behavior of elevation when requested by a standard user account.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157
medium
UAC is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting requires Windows to respond to application installation requests by prompting for credentials.
medium
UAC is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures Windows to only allow applications installed in a secure location on the file system, such as the Program Files or the Windows\System32 folders, to run with elevated privileges.
medium
UAC is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting enables UAC.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156, SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157
medium
UAC is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures non-UAC-compliant applications to run in virtualized file and registry entries in per-user locations, allowing them to run.
medium
Attachments from outside sources may contain malicious code. Preserving zone of origin (internet, intranet, local, restricted) information on file attachments allows Windows to determine risk.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Access Credential Manager as a trusted caller" user right may be able to retrieve the credentials of other accounts from Credential Manager.
high
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Act as part of the operating system" user right can assume the identity of any user and gain access to resources that the user is authorized to access. Any accounts with this right can take complete control of a system.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Allow log on locally" user right can log on interactively to a system.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Back up files and directories" user right can circumvent file and directory permissions and could allow access to sensitive data.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Create a pagefile" user right can change the size of a pagefile, which could affect system performance.
high
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Create a token object" user right allows a process to create an access token. This could be used to provide elevated rights and compromise a system.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Create global objects" user right can create objects that are available to all sessions, which could affect processes in other users' sessions.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Create permanent shared objects" user right could expose sensitive data by creating shared objects.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Create symbolic links" user right can create pointers to other objects, which could expose the system to attack.
high
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Debug programs" user right can attach a debugger to any process or to the kernel, providing complete access to sensitive and critical operating system components. This right is given to Administrators in the default configuration.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Force shutdown from a remote system" user right can remotely shut down a system, which could result in a denial of service.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Generate security audits" user right specifies users and processes that can generate Security Log audit records, which must only be the system service accounts defined.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Impersonate a client after authentication" user right allows a program to impersonate another user or account to run on their behalf. An attacker could use this to elevate privileges.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Increase scheduling priority" user right can change a scheduling priority, causing performance issues or a denial of service.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Load and unload device drivers" user right allows a user to load device drivers dynamically on a system. This could be used by an attacker to install malicious code.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Lock pages in memory" user right allows physical memory to be assigned to processes, which could cause performance issues or a denial of service.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125, SRG-OS-000433-GPOS-00193
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Manage auditing and security log" user right can manage the security log and change auditing configurations. This could be used to clear evidence of tampering.
Satisfies: SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027, SRG-OS-000058-GPOS-00028, SRG-OS-000059-GPOS-00029, SRG-OS-000063-GPOS-00032, SRG-OS-000337-GPOS-00129
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Modify firmware environment values" user right can change hardware configuration environment variables. This could result in hardware failures or a denial of service.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Perform volume maintenance tasks" user right can manage volume and disk configurations. This could be used to delete volumes, resulting in data loss or a denial of service.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Profile single process" user right can monitor nonsystem processes performance. An attacker could use this to identify processes to attack.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Restore files and directories" user right can circumvent file and directory permissions and could allow access to sensitive data. It could also be used to overwrite more current data.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Take ownership of files or other objects" user right can take ownership of objects and make changes.
medium
Weak mappings give rise to security vulnerabilities and demand hardening measures. Certificate names must be correctly mapped to the intended user account in Active Directory. A lack of strong name-based mappings allows certain weak certificate mappings, such as Issuer/Subject AltSecID and User Principal Names (UPN) mappings, to be treated as strong mappings.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Credential validation records events related to validation tests on credentials for a user account logon.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Credential validation records events related to validation tests on credentials for a user account logon.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Credential validation records events related to validation tests on credentials for a user account logon.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Credential validation records events related to validation tests on credentials for a user account logon.
medium
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Credential validation records events related to validation tests on credentials for a user account logon.