SV-278188r1268238: The Windows Server 2025 "Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services" user right on domain-joined member servers must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts and all local accounts and from unauthenticated access on all systems. | Microsoft Windows Server 2025 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

The Windows Server 2025 "Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services" user right on domain-joined member servers must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts and all local accounts and from unauthenticated access on all systems.

Description

Discussion Text

Inappropriately granting user rights provides 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.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-002314

References

DPMS Target Microsoft Windows Server 2025 DISA DPMS Target Microsoft Windows Server 2025 5719

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.windows2025:def:278188
# The Windows Server 2025 "Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services" user right on domain-joined member servers must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts and all local accounts and from unauthenticated access on all systems.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# System is a member of a domain
# wmi57_object (wmi57_test)
function test_1 {
  return ((((Get-CimInstance -Namespace 'root\cimv2' -Query 'SELECT DomainRole FROM win32_computersystem' | Select-Object -First 1) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'DomainRole') -eq '1') -or (((Get-CimInstance -Namespace 'root\cimv2' -Query 'SELECT DomainRole FROM win32_computersystem' | Select-Object -First 1) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'DomainRole') -eq '3'))
}
# Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services - Local Account
# userright_object (userright_test)
function test_2 {
  return (($__tmp = "$env:TEMP\scc_userrights_$([guid]::NewGuid().Guid).cfg"; secedit /export /cfg $__tmp /areas USER_RIGHTS /quiet | Out-Null; $__m = Select-String -Path $__tmp -Pattern '^SeDenyRemoteInteractiveLogonRight\s*=\s*(.*)$'; Remove-Item $__tmp -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if ($__m -and $__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value.Trim().Length -gt 0) { (($__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value -split ',') | ForEach-Object { $__sid = $_.Trim().TrimStart('*'); try { (New-Object System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier($__sid)).Translate([System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]).Value -replace '^[^\\]*\\', '' } catch { $__sid } }) -join ',' } else { '' }) -match '^(?i)(NT Authority\\)?Local account$')
}
# Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services - Guests
# userright_object (userright_test)
function test_3 {
  return (($__tmp = "$env:TEMP\scc_userrights_$([guid]::NewGuid().Guid).cfg"; secedit /export /cfg $__tmp /areas USER_RIGHTS /quiet | Out-Null; $__m = Select-String -Path $__tmp -Pattern '^SeDenyRemoteInteractiveLogonRight\s*=\s*(.*)$'; Remove-Item $__tmp -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if ($__m -and $__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value.Trim().Length -gt 0) { (($__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value -split ',') | ForEach-Object { $__sid = $_.Trim().TrimStart('*'); try { (New-Object System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier($__sid)).Translate([System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]).Value -replace '^[^\\]*\\', '' } catch { $__sid } }) -join ',' } else { '' }) -eq 'Guests')
}
# Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services - Domain Admins
# userright_object (userright_test)
function test_4 {
  return (($__tmp = "$env:TEMP\scc_userrights_$([guid]::NewGuid().Guid).cfg"; secedit /export /cfg $__tmp /areas USER_RIGHTS /quiet | Out-Null; $__m = Select-String -Path $__tmp -Pattern '^SeDenyRemoteInteractiveLogonRight\s*=\s*(.*)$'; Remove-Item $__tmp -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if ($__m -and $__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value.Trim().Length -gt 0) { (($__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value -split ',') | ForEach-Object { $__sid = $_.Trim().TrimStart('*'); try { (New-Object System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier($__sid)).Translate([System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]).Value -replace '^[^\\]*\\', '' } catch { $__sid } }) -join ',' } else { '' }) -match '^(?i)(.+\\)?Domain Admins$')
}
# Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services - Enterprise Admins
# userright_object (userright_test)
function test_5 {
  return (($__tmp = "$env:TEMP\scc_userrights_$([guid]::NewGuid().Guid).cfg"; secedit /export /cfg $__tmp /areas USER_RIGHTS /quiet | Out-Null; $__m = Select-String -Path $__tmp -Pattern '^SeDenyRemoteInteractiveLogonRight\s*=\s*(.*)$'; Remove-Item $__tmp -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if ($__m -and $__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value.Trim().Length -gt 0) { (($__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value -split ',') | ForEach-Object { $__sid = $_.Trim().TrimStart('*'); try { (New-Object System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier($__sid)).Translate([System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]).Value -replace '^[^\\]*\\', '' } catch { $__sid } }) -join ',' } else { '' }) -match '^(?i)(.+\\)?Enterprise Admins$')
}
# System is not a member of a domain
# wmi57_object (wmi57_test)
function test_6 {
  return ((((Get-CimInstance -Namespace 'root\cimv2' -Query 'SELECT DomainRole FROM win32_computersystem' | Select-Object -First 1) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'DomainRole') -eq '0') -or (((Get-CimInstance -Namespace 'root\cimv2' -Query 'SELECT DomainRole FROM win32_computersystem' | Select-Object -First 1) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'DomainRole') -eq '2'))
}
# Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services - Guests
# userright_object (userright_test)
function test_7 {
  return (($__tmp = "$env:TEMP\scc_userrights_$([guid]::NewGuid().Guid).cfg"; secedit /export /cfg $__tmp /areas USER_RIGHTS /quiet | Out-Null; $__m = Select-String -Path $__tmp -Pattern '^SeDenyRemoteInteractiveLogonRight\s*=\s*(.*)$'; Remove-Item $__tmp -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if ($__m -and $__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value.Trim().Length -gt 0) { (($__m.Matches[0].Groups[1].Value -split ',') | ForEach-Object { $__sid = $_.Trim().TrimStart('*'); try { (New-Object System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier($__sid)).Translate([System.Security.Principal.NTAccount]).Value -replace '^[^\\]*\\', '' } catch { $__sid } }) -join ',' } else { '' }) -eq 'Guests')
}

if (((test_1 -and test_2 -and test_3 -and test_4 -and test_5) -or (test_6 -and test_7))) {
  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_server_2025 target this check assesses.

# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.windows2025:def:278188
$isDomainMember = (Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComputerSystem).DomainRole -eq 3
if (-not $isDomainMember) { exit 1 }
$userRights = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_UserRight -Filter "UserRight='SE_DENY_REMOTE_INTERACTIVE_LOGON_NAME'"
if (-not ($userRights)) { exit 1 }
$requiredGroups = @("NT AUTHORITY\Local account", "Guests", "DOMAIN\Domain Admins", "DOMAIN\Enterprise Admins")
foreach ($group in $requiredGroups) {
    $found = $false
    foreach ($userRight in $userRights) {
        if ($userRight.AssignedTo -like $group) {
            $found = $true
            break
        }
    }
    if (-not $found) { exit 1 }
}
exit 0

Remediation

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Local Policies >> User Rights Assignment >> Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services to include the following:

Domain Systems Only:
- Enterprise Admins group.
- Domain Admins group.
- Local account (see Note below).

All Systems:
- Guests group.

Note: "Local account" refers to the Windows built-in security group.