Microsoft Windows Server 2022 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Using a privileged account to perform routine functions makes the computer vulnerable to malicious software inadvertently introduced during a session that has been granted full privileges.

Using applications that access the internet or have potential internet sources using administrative privileges exposes a system to compromise. If a flaw in an application is exploited while running as a privileged user, the entire system could be compromised. Web browsers and email are common attack vectors for introducing malicious code and must not be run with an administrative account.

Since administrative accounts may generally change or work around technical restrictions for running a web browser or other applications, it is essential that policy require administrative accounts to not access the internet or use applications such as email.

The policy must define specific exceptions for local service administration. These exceptions may include HTTP(S)-based tools that are used for the administration of the local system, services, or attached devices.

Whitelisting can be used to enforce the policy to ensure compliance.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227, SRG-OS-000205-GPOS-00083

Application/service account passwords must be of sufficient length to prevent being easily cracked. Application/service accounts that are manually managed must have passwords at least 14 characters in length.

Shared accounts (accounts where two or more people log on with the same user identification) do not provide adequate identification and authentication. There is no way to provide for nonrepudiation or individual accountability for system access and resource usage.

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 in order 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.

Malicious software can establish a base on individual desktops and servers. Employing an automated mechanism to detect this type of software will aid in elimination of the software from the operating system.

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.

Changing the system's file and directory permissions allows the possibility of unauthorized and anonymous modification to the operating system and installed applications.

The default permissions are adequate when the Security Option "Network access: Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users" is set to "Disabled" (WN22-SO-000240).

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000312-GPOS-00122, SRG-OS-000312-GPOS-00123, SRG-OS-000312-GPOS-00124

The registry is integral to the function, security, and stability of the Windows system. Changing the system's registry permissions allows the possibility of unauthorized and anonymous modification to the operating system.

Outdated or unused accounts provide penetration points that may go undetected. Inactive accounts must be deleted if no longer necessary or, if still required, disabled until needed.

Passwords that do not expire or are reused increase the exposure of a password with greater probability of being discovered or cracked.

Shares on a system provide network access. To prevent exposing sensitive information, where shares are necessary, permissions must be reconfigured to give the minimum access to accounts that require it.

This requirement addresses protection of user-generated data as well as operating system-specific configuration data. Organizations may choose to employ different mechanisms to achieve confidentiality and integrity protections, as appropriate, in accordance with the security category and/or classification of the information.

Selection of a cryptographic mechanism is based on the need to protect the integrity of organizational information. The strength of the mechanism is commensurate with the security category and/or classification of the information. Organizations have the flexibility to either encrypt all information on storage devices (i.e., full disk encryption) or encrypt specific data structures (e.g., files, records, or fields).

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000185-GPOS-00079, SRG-OS-000404-GPOS-00183, SRG-OS-000405-GPOS-00184

Unnecessary roles and features increase the attack surface of a system. Limiting roles and features of a system to only those necessary reduces this potential. The standard installation option (previously called Server Core) further reduces this when selected at installation.

Without the use of automated mechanisms to scan for security flaws on a continuous and/or periodic basis, the operating system or other system components may remain vulnerable to the exploits presented by undetected software flaws. The operating system may have an integrated solution incorporating continuous scanning using ESS and periodic scanning using other tools.

Emergency administrator accounts are privileged accounts established in response to crisis situations where the need for rapid account activation is required. Therefore, emergency account activation may bypass normal account authorization processes. If these accounts are automatically disabled, system maintenance during emergencies may not be possible, thus adversely affecting system availability.

Emergency administrator accounts are different from infrequently used accounts (i.e., local logon accounts used by system administrators when network or normal logon/access is not available). Infrequently used accounts are not subject to automatic termination dates. Emergency accounts are accounts created in response to crisis situations, usually for use by maintenance personnel. The automatic expiration or disabling time period may be extended as needed until the crisis is resolved; however, it must not be extended indefinitely. A permanent account must be established for privileged users who need long-term maintenance accounts.

To address access requirements, many operating systems can be integrated with enterprise-level authentication/access mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements.

Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The FTP service allows remote users to access shared files and directories that could provide access to system resources and compromise the system, especially if the user can gain access to the root directory of the boot drive.

Accounts or groups given rights on a system may show up as unresolved SIDs for various reasons including deletion of the accounts or groups. If the account or group objects are reanimated, there is a potential they may still have rights no longer intended. Valid domain accounts or groups may also show up as unresolved SIDs if a connection to the domain cannot be established.

Secure Boot is a standard that ensures systems boot only to a trusted operating system. Secure Boot is required to support additional security features in Windows, including Virtualization Based Security and Credential Guard. If Secure Boot is turned off, these security features will not function.

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.

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. DOD has decided this is the appropriate value for all Windows systems.

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.

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

Protection of log data includes ensuring the log data is not accidentally lost or deleted. Audit information stored in one location is vulnerable to accidental or incidental deletion or alteration.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Configuring the system to disable IPv6 source routing protects against spoofing.

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.

Insecure guest logons allow unauthenticated access to shared folders. Shared resources on a system must require authentication to establish proper access.

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.

Virtualization Based Security (VBS) provides the platform for the additional security features Credential Guard and virtualization-based protection of code integrity. Secure Boot is the minimum security level, with DMA protection providing additional memory protection. DMA Protection requires a CPU that supports input/output memory management unit (IOMMU).

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.

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.

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).

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.

Allowing AutoRun commands to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. Configuring this setting prevents AutoRun commands from executing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Legacy plug-in applications may continue to function when a File Explorer session has become corrupt. Disabling this feature will prevent this.

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

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

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

Basic authentication uses plain-text passwords that could be used to compromise a system. Disabling Basic authentication will reduce this potential.

Installation options for applications are typically controlled by administrators. This setting prevents users from changing installation options that may bypass security features.

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.

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.

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

Basic authentication uses plain-text passwords that could be used to compromise a system. Disabling Basic authentication will reduce this potential.

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

An account that does not have Administrator duties must not have Administrator rights. Such rights would allow the account to bypass or modify required security restrictions on that machine and make it vulnerable to attack.

System administrators must log on to systems using only accounts with the minimum level of authority necessary.

Standard user accounts must not be members of the built-in Administrators group.

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

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

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

When directory service database objects do not have appropriate access control permissions, it may be possible for malicious users to create, read, update, or delete the objects and degrade or destroy the integrity of the data. When the directory service is used for identification, authentication, or authorization functions, a compromise of the database objects could lead to a compromise of all systems relying on the directory service.

For Active Directory (AD), the Group Policy objects require special attention. In a distributed administration model (i.e., help desk), Group Policy objects are more likely to have access permissions changed from the secure defaults. If inappropriate access permissions are defined for Group Policy objects, this could allow an intruder to change the security policy applied to all domain client computers (workstations and servers).

When directory service database objects do not have appropriate access control permissions, it may be possible for malicious users to create, read, update, or delete the objects and degrade or destroy the integrity of the data. When the directory service is used for identification, authentication, or authorization functions, a compromise of the database objects could lead to a compromise of all systems that rely on the directory service.

For Active Directory, the OU objects require special attention. In a distributed administration model (i.e., help desk), OU objects are more likely to have access permissions changed from the secure defaults. If inappropriate access permissions are defined for OU objects, it could allow an intruder to add or delete users in the OU. This could result in unauthorized access to data or a denial of service (DoS) to authorized users.

Executing application servers on the same host machine with a directory server may substantially weaken the security of the directory server. Web or database server applications usually require the addition of many programs and accounts, increasing the attack surface of the computer.

Some applications require the addition of privileged accounts, providing potential sources of compromise. Some applications (such as Microsoft Exchange) may require the use of network ports or services conflicting with the directory server. In this case, nonstandard ports might be selected, and this could interfere with intrusion detection or prevention services.

To the extent that anonymous access to directory data (outside the root DSE) is permitted, read access control of the data is effectively disabled. If other means of controlling access (such as network restrictions) are compromised, there may be nothing else to protect the confidentiality of sensitive directory data.

When inappropriate audit settings are configured for directory service database objects, it may be possible for a user or process to update the data without generating any tracking data. The impact of missing audit data is related to the type of object. A failure to capture audit data for objects used by identification, authentication, or authorization functions could degrade or eliminate the ability to track changes to access policy for systems or data.

For Active Directory (AD), there are a number of critical object types in the domain naming context of the AD database for which auditing is essential. This includes Group Policy objects. Because changes to these objects can significantly impact access controls or the availability of systems, the absence of auditing data makes it impossible to identify the source of changes that impact the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems throughout an AD domain. The lack of proper auditing can result in insufficient forensic evidence needed to investigate an incident and prosecute the intruder.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203

When inappropriate audit settings are configured for directory service database objects, it may be possible for a user or process to update the data without generating any tracking data. The impact of missing audit data is related to the type of object. A failure to capture audit data for objects used by identification, authentication, or authorization functions could degrade or eliminate the ability to track changes to access policy for systems or data.

For Active Directory (AD), there are a number of critical object types in the domain naming context of the AD database for which auditing is essential. This includes the Infrastructure object. Because changes to these objects can significantly impact access controls or the availability of systems, the absence of auditing data makes it impossible to identify the source of changes that impact the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems throughout an AD domain. The lack of proper auditing can result in insufficient forensic evidence needed to investigate an incident and prosecute the intruder.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212

When inappropriate audit settings are configured for directory service database objects, it may be possible for a user or process to update the data without generating any tracking data. The impact of missing audit data is related to the type of object. A failure to capture audit data for objects used by identification, authentication, or authorization functions could degrade or eliminate the ability to track changes to access policy for systems or data.

For Active Directory (AD), there are a number of critical object types in the domain naming context of the AD database for which auditing is essential. This includes the AdminSDHolder object. Because changes to these objects can significantly impact access controls or the availability of systems, the absence of auditing data makes it impossible to identify the source of changes that impact the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems throughout an AD domain. The lack of proper auditing can result in insufficient forensic evidence needed to investigate an incident and prosecute the intruder.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212

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

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

Domain controllers are part of the chain of trust for PKI authentications. Without the appropriate certificate, the authenticity of the domain controller cannot be verified. Domain controllers must have a server certificate to establish authenticity as part of PKI authentications in the domain.

A PKI implementation depends on the practices established by the Certificate Authority (CA) to ensure the implementation is secure. Without proper practices, the certificates issued by a CA have limited value in authentication functions.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000066-GPOS-00034, SRG-OS-000403-GPOS-00182

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An account that does not have Administrator duties must not have Administrator rights. Such rights would allow the account to bypass or modify required security restrictions on that machine and make it vulnerable to attack.

System administrators must log on to systems using only accounts with the minimum level of authority necessary.

For domain-joined member servers, the Domain Admins group must be replaced by a domain member server administrator group (see V-243468 in the Active Directory Domain STIG). Restricting highly privileged accounts from the local Administrators group helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation resulting from credential theft attacks.

Standard user accounts must not be members of the built-in Administrators group.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

To ensure secure DoD websites and DoD-signed code are properly validated, the system must trust the DoD Root CAs. The DoD root certificates will ensure that the trust chain is established for server certificates issued from the DoD CAs.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000066-GPOS-00034, SRG-OS-000403-GPOS-00182

To ensure users do not experience denial of service when performing certificate-based authentication to DOD websites due to the system chaining to a root other than DOD Root CAs, the US DOD 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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Failure to display the logon banner prior to a logon attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000023-GPOS-00006, SRG-OS-000228-GPOS-00088

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.