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Objective ID
Severity
Discussion
medium
A known vulnerability in Windows could allow the execution of malicious code by either opening a compromised document or viewing it in the Windows Preview pane.
Organizations must disable the Windows Preview pane and Windows Detail pane.
Organizations must disable the Windows Preview pane and Windows Detail pane.
medium
Inadequate physical protection can undermine all other security precautions utilized to protect the system. This can jeopardize the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of the system. Physical security of the AIS is the first line protection of any system.
medium
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.
high
Systems at unsupported versions or releases of an operating system will not receive security updates for new vulnerabilities, which leaves them subject to exploitation. Systems must be maintained at a version of the operating system supported by the vendor with new security updates.
high
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.
low
Displaying the shutdown button may allow individuals to shut down a system anonymously. Only authenticated users should be allowed to shut down the system. Preventing display of this button in the logon dialog box ensures that individuals who shut down the system are authorized and tracked in the systems Security event log.
low
Recovery of a damaged or compromised system in a timely basis is difficult without a system information backup. A system backup will usually include sensitive information such as user accounts that could be used in an attack. As a valuable system resource, the system backup should be protected and stored in a physically secure location.
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. Event logs may be susceptible to tampering if proper permissions are not applied.
high
This is a category 1 finding because the ability to set access permissions and audit critical directories and files is only available by using the NTFS file system. The capability to assign access permissions to file objects is a DoD policy requirement.
medium
Failure to display the logon banner prior to a logon attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources.
low
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.
high
This is a Category 1 finding because it allows anonymous logon users (null session connections) to list all account names and enumerate all shared resources, thus providing a map of potential points to attack the system.
By default, Windows allows anonymous users to list account names and enumerate share names.
By default, Windows allows anonymous users to list account names and enumerate share names.
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 should be reasonably small to minimize the possibility of a successful password attack, while allowing for honest errors made during a 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
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.
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 user is authorized to access. Any accounts with this right can take complete control of a system.
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 user is authorized to access. Any accounts with this right can take complete control of a system.
medium
The longer passwords are in use, the greater the opportunity for someone to gain unauthorized knowledge of them. 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
A system is more vulnerable to unauthorized access when users can recycle the same password several times without being required to change it 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.
low
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.
medium
A system faces an increased vulnerability threat if the built-in guest account is not disabled. This account 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.
medium
A system faces an increased vulnerability threat if the built-in guest account is not renamed or disabled. The built-in guest account is a 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. This account is a member of the group Everyone and has all the rights and permissions associated with that group and could provide access to system resources to unauthorized users.
medium
The built-in administrator account is a well-known account. Renaming the account to an unidentified name improves the protection of this account and the system.
medium
Allowing other operating systems to run on a secure system, can allow users to circumvent security. If more than one operating system is installed on a computer each must be configured to be compliant with STIG guidance.
medium
The FTP service allows remote users to access shared files and directories. Allowing anonymous FTP connections makes user auditing difficult.
Using accounts that have administrator privileges to log on to FTP risks that the user ID and password will be captured on the network and give administrator access to an unauthorized user.
Using accounts that have administrator privileges to log on to FTP risks that the user ID and password will be captured on the network and give administrator access to an unauthorized user.
high
The FTP service allows remote users to access shared files and directories. Access outside of the specific directories of shared data could provide access to system resources and compromise the system.
medium
The system should be locked when unattended. Unattended systems are susceptible to unauthorized use. The screen saver should be set at a maximum of 15 minutes and password protected. This protects critical and sensitive data from exposure to unauthorized personnel with physical access to the computer.
high
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 only using 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-36433 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.
System administrators must log on to systems only using 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-36433 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.
low
Security configuration tools, such as Security Templates and Group Policy, allow system administrators to consolidate all security-related system settings into a single configuration file. These settings can then be applied consistently to any number of Windows machines. The Security Configuration tools can use the same configuration file to check platforms for compliance with security policy.
medium
Failure to properly configure ACL file and directory permissions allows the possibility of unauthorized and anonymous modification to the operating system and installed applications.
low
Improperly configured share permissions on printers can permit the addition of unauthorized print devices on the network. Windows shares are a means by which files, folders, printers, and other resources can be published for network users to remotely access. Regular users cannot create shares on their local machines; only Administrators and Power Users have that ability.
low
Users should not be permitted to remain logged on to the network after they have exceeded their permitted logon hours. In many cases, this indicates that a user forgot to log off before leaving for the day. However, it may also indicate that a user is attempting unauthorized access at a time when the system may be less closely monitored. This protects critical and sensitive network data from exposure to unauthorized personnel with physical access to the computer.
high
Using a privileged account to perform routine functions makes the computer vulnerable to attack by any virus or Trojan Horse inadvertently introduced during a session that has been granted full privileges.
The rule of least privilege should always be enforced.
The rule of least privilege should always be enforced.
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 see if there is a way to support encrypted password authentication.
medium
Allowing a system to automatically log on when the machine is booted could give access to any unauthorized individual who restarts the computer. Automatic logon with administrator privileges would give full access to an unauthorized individual.
medium
The use of complex passwords increases their strength against attack. The built-in Windows password complexity policy requires passwords to contain at least 3 of the 4 types of characters (numbers, upper- and lower-case letters, and special characters), as well as preventing the inclusion of user names or parts of.
low
Allowing users to install drivers can introduce malware or cause the instability of a system. This capability should be restricted to the Administrators and Print Operators groups.
high
The registry is integral to the function, security, and stability of the Windows system. Some processes may require anonymous access to the registry. This must be limited to properly protect the system.
high
The Kerberos v5 authentication protocol is the default for authentication of users who are logging on to domain accounts.
The Windows NTLM protocol is retained in later Windows versions for compatibility with clients and servers that are running earlier versions. It is also used to authenticate logons to stand-alone computers that are running later versions.
The Windows NTLM protocol is retained in later Windows versions for compatibility with clients and servers that are running earlier versions. It is also used to authenticate logons to stand-alone computers that are running later versions.
medium
Disabling the Ctrl+Alt+Del security attention sequence can compromise system security. Because only Windows responds to the Ctrl+Alt+Del security sequence, you can be assured that any passwords you enter following that sequence are sent only to Windows. If you eliminate the sequence requirement, malicious programs can request and receive your Windows password. Disabling this sequence also suppresses a custom logon banner.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities.
The "Deny access to this computer from the network" 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.
The "Deny access to this computer from the network" 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
Determines what should happen when the smart card for a logged-on user is removed from the smart card reader.
The options are:
- No Action
- Lock Workstation
- Force Logoff
The options are:
- No Action
- Lock Workstation
- Force Logoff
medium
If this policy is enabled, it causes the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) server to perform SMB packet signing.
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 should be encrypted.
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, all outgoing secure channel traffic should be signed.
low
Computer account passwords are changed automatically on a regular basis. Enabling this policy to disable automatic password changes can make the system more vulnerable to malicious access. Frequent password changes can be a significant safeguard for your system. If this policy is disabled, a new password for the computer account will be generated every 30 days.
medium
If this policy is enabled, it causes the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) client to perform SMB packet signing when communicating with an SMB server that is enabled or required to perform SMB packet signing. This policy is defined by default in Local Computer Policy, where it is enabled by default.
medium
Backup Operators are able to read and write to any file in the system, regardless of the rights assigned to it. Backup and restore rights permit users to circumvent the file access restrictions present on NTFS disk drives for the purpose of backup and restore. Members of the Backup Operators group should have special logon accounts for performing their backup duties.
medium
Removable hard drives can be formatted and ejected by others who are not members of the Administrators Group, if they are not properly configured. Formatting and ejecting removable NTFS media should only be done by administrators.
low
This setting configures the system to display a warning to users telling them how many days are left before their password expires. By giving the user advanced warning, the user has time to construct a sufficiently strong password.
low
Windows system maintains a global list of shared system resources such as DOS device names, mutexes, and semaphores. Each type of object is created with a default DACL that specifies who can access the objects with what permissions. If this policy is enabled, the default DACL is stronger, allowing non-admin users to read shared objects, but not modify shared objects that they did not create.
low
Open sessions can increase the avenues of attack on a system. This setting is used to control when a computer disconnects an inactive SMB session. If client activity resumes, the session is automatically re-established. This protects critical and sensitive network data from exposure to unauthorized personnel with physical access to the computer.
low
The user name of the last user to log onto a system will not be displayed. This eliminates half of the Userid/Password equation that an unauthorized person would need to log on.
medium
The longer a password is in use, the greater the opportunity for someone to gain unauthorized knowledge of the password. The password for the built-in Administrator account must be changed at least annually or when any member of the administrative team leaves the organization.
Organizations that use an automated tool, such as Microsoft's Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS), on domain-joined systems can configure this to occur more frequently. LAPS will change the password every 30 days by default.
Organizations that use an automated tool, such as Microsoft's Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS), on domain-joined systems can configure this to occur more frequently. LAPS will change the password every 30 days by default.
medium
Audit records are essential for investigating system activity after the fact. Retention periods for audit data are determined based on the sensitivity of the data handled by the system.
medium
This setting prevents the system from setting up a default system access control list for certain system objects, which could create a very large number of security events, filling the security log in Windows and making it difficult to identify actual issues.
medium
This policy setting stops the system from generating audit events for every file backed up or restored which could fill the Security log in Windows.
medium
This policy setting allows administrators to enable the more precise auditing capabilities present in Windows Vista and 2008 forward.
medium
This check verifies whether the built-in Administrator account runs in Admin Approval Mode.
medium
This check verifies whether logged on administrator is prompted for consent when attempting to complete a task that requires raised privileges.
medium
This check verifies whether the logged on user is automatically denied elevation when attempting to complete a task that requires raised privileges.
medium
This check verifies whether Windows responds to application installation requests by prompting for credentials.
medium
This check verifies whether Windows only allows applications installed in a secure location, such as the Program Files or the Windows\System32 folders, on the file system to run with elevated privileges.
medium
This check verifies that non UAC-compliant applications will run in virtualized file and registry entries allowing them to run.
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 enter a username and password to elevate a running application.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent users from saving passwords in the Remote Desktop Client.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent users from sharing the local drives on their client computers to Remote Desktop Session Hosts that they access.
medium
Configuring RPC to restrict unauthenticated RPC clients from connecting to the RPC server will prevent anonymous connections.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent Windows from downloading a list of providers for the Web publishing and online ordering wizards.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent the client computer’s ability to print over HTTP, which allows the computer to print to printers on the intranet as well as the Internet.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent the computer from downloading print driver packages over HTTP.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent Windows from searching Windows Update for device drivers when no local drivers for a device are present.
medium
This check verifies that file attachments are marked with their zone of origin allowing Windows to determine risk.
medium
This check verifies that users cannot manually remove zone information from saved file attachments.
medium
This check verifies that antivirus programs are notified when a user opens a file attachment.
medium
Setting application accounts to expire may cause applications to stop functioning. The organization must have a policy that manually managed application account passwords are changed at least annually or when a system administrator with knowledge of the password leaves the organization. Application/service account passwords must be at least 15 characters and follow complexity requirements for all passwords.
medium
The McAfee Agent is the client side distributed component of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (McAfee ePO) which provides a secure communication channel between the ePO server and managed point products.
medium
This check verifies that unhandled file associations will not use the Microsoft Web service to find an application.
low
This check verifies that the "Order Prints Online" task is not available in Windows Explorer.
low
The classic logon screen requires users to enter a logon name and password to access a system. The simple logon screen or Welcome screen displays usernames for selection, providing part of the necessary logon information.
medium
Attachments from RSS feeds may not be secure. This setting will prevent attachments from being downloaded from RSS feeds.
medium
This check verifies that the shell protocol runs in protected mode. (This allows applications to only open limited folders.)
medium
This check verifies that users are notified if a web-based program attempts to install software.
low
This check verifies that users are not presented with Privacy and Installation options on first use of Windows Media Player.
medium
This check verifies that the configuration of wireless devices using Windows Connect Now is disabled.
low
This check verifies that a system restore point will be created when a new device driver is installed.
low
This check verifies that an Error Report will not be sent when a generic device driver is installed.
low
This check verifies that users will not be prompted to search Windows Update for device drivers.
low
This check verifies that errors in handwriting recognition on Tablet PCs are not reported to Microsoft.
medium
This check verifies that the user is prompted for a password on resume from sleep (on battery).
medium
This check verifies that the user is prompted for a password on resume from sleep (Plugged In).
low
This check verifies that game information is not downloaded from Windows Metadata Services.
low
This check verifies that heap termination on corruption is disabled. This may prevent Windows Explorer from terminating immediately from certain legacy plug-in applications.
medium
This check verifies that Windows Media Digital Rights Management will be prevented from accessing the Internet.
medium
Use of software certificates and their accompanying installation files for end users to access resources is less secure than the use of hardware-based certificates.
medium
This check verifies whether User Interface Accessibility programs can automatically disable the secure desktop for elevation prompts for a standard user.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent users from mapping local COM ports and redirecting data from the Remote Desktop Session Host to local COM ports.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent users from mapping local LPT ports and redirecting data from the Remote Desktop Session Host to local LPT ports.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent users from redirecting Plug and Play devices to the Remote Desktop Session Host.
medium
This check verifies that the system is configured to ensure smart card devices can be redirected to the Remote Desktop session.
low
This check verifies that the system is configured to allow only the default client printer to be redirected in the Remote Desktop session.
medium
This check verifies that the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program is disabled so information is not passed to the vendor.
medium
This check verifies that the Windows Help Experience Improvement Program is disabled to prevent information from being passed to the vendor.
medium
This check verifies that users cannot provide ratings feedback to Microsoft for Help content
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.
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.
medium
If a service principle name (SPN) is provided by the client, it is validated against the server’s list of SPNs. This setting can cause disruptions in file and printer services.
medium
This setting ensures that services using Local System that use negotiate when reverting to NTLM authentication will use the computer identity vs. authenticating anonymously.
medium
This setting prevents online identities from being used by PKU2U, which is a peer-to-peer authentication protocol. Authentication will be centrally managed with Windows user accounts.
medium
Certain encryption types are no longer considered secure. This setting configures a minimum encryption type for Kerberos, preventing the use of the DES encryption suites.
low
Configuring Windows to limit the number of times that IPv6 TCP retransmits unacknowledged data segments before aborting the attempt helps prevent resources from becoming exhausted.
low
This setting ensures all traffic is routed through the internal network, allowing monitoring and preventing split tunneling.
low
This setting will prevent Windows from searching Windows Update for point and print drivers. Only the local driver store and server driver cache will be searched.
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 uncontrolled updates to the system. This setting will prevent Windows from retrieving device metadata from the Internet.
low
This setting prevents the MSDT from communicating with and sending collected data to Microsoft, the default support provider.
low
This setting prevents users from searching troubleshooting content on Microsoft servers. Only local content will be available.
low
This setting prevents responsiveness events from being aggregated and sent to Microsoft.
low
This setting will prevent the Program Inventory from collecting data about a system and sending the information to Microsoft.
medium
This setting will disable autoplay for non-volume devices (such as Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) devices).
low
This setting will prevent the system from downloading game update information from Windows Metadata Services.
medium
This setting will prevent a system from being joined to a homegroup. Homegroups are a method of sharing data and printers on a home network.
medium
This setting will prevent Data Execution Prevention from being turned off for Windows Explorer.
high
Allowing autorun commands to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. Configuring this setting prevents autorun commands from executing.
medium
Storing passwords using reversible encryption is essentially the same as storing clear-text versions of the passwords. For this reason, this policy should never be enabled.
high
Autoplay begins reading from a drive as soon as you insert media in the drive. As a result, the setup file of programs and the music on audio media starts immediately. By default, Autoplay is disabled on removable drives, such as the floppy disk drive (but not the CD-ROM drive), and on network drives. If you enable this policy, you can also disable Autoplay on all drives.
high
Permissions on the Winlogon registry key must only allow privileged accounts to change registry values. If standard users have this capability there is a potential for programs to run with elevated privileges when a privileged user logs on to the system.
high
This is a Category 1 finding as it allows anonymous logon users (null session connections) to list all account names, thus providing a list of potential points to attack the system.
low
Failure to display the logon banner prior to a logon attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources.
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.
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.
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 must be limited to those that require it.
Accounts with the "Access this computer from the network" user right may access resources on the system, and must be limited to those that require it.
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.
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 "Allow log on through Remote Desktop Services" user right can access a system through Remote Desktop.
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.
Accounts with the "Back up files and directories" user right can circumvent file and directory permissions and could allow access to sensitive data.
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 "Change the system time" user right can change the system time, which can impact authentication, as well as affect time stamps on event log entries.
Accounts with the "Change the system time" user right can change the system time, which can impact authentication, as well as affect time stamps on event log entries.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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" right can create pointers to other objects which could potentially expose the system to attack.
Accounts with the "Create symbolic links" right can create pointers to other objects which could potentially expose the system to attack.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities.
The "Deny log on as a batch job" 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.
The "Deny log on as a batch job" 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" right defines accounts that are denied log on 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 DoS.
The "Deny log on as a service" right defines accounts that are denied log on 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 DoS.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities.
The "Deny log on locally" 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.
The "Deny log on locally" 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" 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.
The "Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services" 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 potentially allow unauthorized users to impersonate other users.
The "Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation" user right allows the "Trusted for Delegation" setting to be changed. This could potentially allow unauthorized users to impersonate other users.
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 DoS.
Accounts with the "Force shutdown from a remote system" user right can remotely shut down a system which could result in a DoS.
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.
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 potentially use this to elevate privileges.
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 potentially 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 DoS.
Accounts with the "Increase scheduling priority" user right can change a scheduling priority causing performance issues or a DoS.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Load and unload device drivers" user right allows device drivers to dynamically be loaded on a system by a user. This could potentially be used to install malicious code by an attacker.
The "Load and unload device drivers" user right allows device drivers to dynamically be loaded on a system by a user. This could potentially be used to install malicious code by an attacker.
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 DoS.
The "Lock pages in memory" user right allows physical memory to be assigned to processes, which could cause performance issues or a DoS.
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.
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.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Modify an object label" user right can change the integrity label of an object. This could potentially be used to execute code at a higher privilege.
Accounts with the "Modify an object label" user right can change the integrity label of an object. This could potentially be used to execute code at a higher privilege.
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 DoS.
Accounts with the "Modify firmware environment values" user right can change hardware configuration environment variables. This could result in hardware failures or a DoS.
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. They could potentially delete volumes, resulting in, data loss or a DoS.
Accounts with the "Perform volume maintenance tasks" user right can manage volume and disk configurations. They could potentially delete volumes, resulting in, data loss or a DoS.
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 non-system processes performance. An attacker could potentially use this to identify processes to attack.
Accounts with the "Profile single process" user right can monitor non-system processes performance. An attacker could potentially 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 "Profile system performance" user right can monitor system processes performance. An attacker could potentially use this to identify processes to attack.
Accounts with the "Profile system performance" user right can monitor system processes performance. An attacker could potentially use this to identify processes to attack.
medium
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Replace a process level token" user right allows one process or service to start another process or service with a different security access token. A user with this right could use this to impersonate another account.
The "Replace a process level token" user right allows one process or service to start another process or service with a different security access token. A user with this right could use this to impersonate another account.
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.
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.
Accounts with the "Take ownership of files or other objects" user right can take ownership of objects and make changes.
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 detecting 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.
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 detecting 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.
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 detecting 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 records events such as the access of a password hash or the Password Policy Checking API being called.
Other Account Management records events such as the access of a password hash or the Password Policy Checking API being called.
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 detecting 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 the creating, deleting or changing of security groups, including changes in group members.
Security Group Management records events such as the creating, deleting or changing of security groups, including changes in group members.
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 detecting 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 the creating, changing, deleting, renaming, disabling, or enabling user accounts.
User Account Management records events such as the creating, changing, deleting, renaming, disabling, or enabling user accounts.
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 detecting 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 the creating, changing, deleting, renaming, disabling, or enabling user accounts.
User Account Management records events such as the creating, changing, deleting, renaming, disabling, or enabling user accounts.
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 detecting 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.
Process creation records events related to the creation of a process and the source.
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 detecting 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 logon, it is recorded on the local system. If it is to a network share, it is recorded on the system accessed.
Logoff records user logoffs. 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.
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 detecting 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.
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.
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 detecting 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.
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.
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 detecting 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 which have administrative privileges and can be used to elevate processes.
Special Logon records special logons which have administrative privileges and can be used to elevate processes.
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 detecting 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.
Audit Policy Change records events related to changes in audit policy.
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 detecting 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.
Audit Policy Change records events related to changes in audit policy.
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 detecting 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.
Authentication Policy Change records events related to changes in authentication policy including Kerberos policy and Trust changes.
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 detecting 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 privilege such as Act as part of the operating system or Debug programs.
Sensitive Privilege Use records events related to use of sensitive privilege such as Act as part of the operating system or Debug programs.
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 detecting 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 privilege such as Act as part of the operating system or Debug programs.
Sensitive Privilege Use records events related to use of sensitive privilege such as Act as part of the operating system or Debug programs.
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 detecting 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.
IPSec Driver records events related to the IPSec Driver such as dropped packets.
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 detecting 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.
IPSec Driver records events related to the IPSec Driver such as dropped packets.
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 detecting 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.
Security State Change records events related to changes in the security state such as startup and shutdown of 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 detecting 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.
Security System Extension records events related to extension code being loaded by the security subsystem.
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 detecting 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.
System Integrity records events related to violations of integrity to the security subsystem.
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 detecting 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.
System Integrity records events related to violations of integrity to the security subsystem.
medium
IPv6 transition technologies which tunnel packets through other protocols do not provide visibility.
medium
IPv6 transition technologies which tunnel packets through other protocols do not provide visibility.
medium
IPv6 transition technologies which tunnel packets through other protocols do not provide visibility.
medium
IPv6 transition technologies which tunnel packets through other protocols do not provide visibility.
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.
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.
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.
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.
medium
Unnecessary Services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption.
low
Sending error reports to vendors can disclose information about a system to an outside organization.
medium
Comparing system files against a baseline on a regular basis will detect the possibility of introduction of malicious code on the system.
high
This is a category 1 finding because when unencrypted access to system services is permitted, an intruder can intercept user identification and passwords that are being transmitted in clear text. This could give an intruder unlimited access to the network.
medium
To ensure secure DoD websites and DoD-signed code are properly validated, the system must trust the DoD Root Certificate Authorities (CAs). The DoD root certificates will ensure that the trust chain is established for server certificates issued from the DoD CAs.
medium
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 DoD Interoperability Root CA cross-certificates must be installed in the Untrusted Certificate Store. This requirement only applies to unclassified systems.
high
Permissions on the Active Setup\Installed Components registry key must only allow privileged accounts to add or change registry values. If standard user accounts have this capability there is a potential for programs to run with elevated privileges when a privileged user logs on to the system.
medium
By default, the Everyone group is given full control to new file shares. When a share is created, permissions should be reconfigured to give the minimum access to those accounts that require it.
medium
A properly configured Host-based Intrusion Detection System provides another level of defense against unauthorized access to critical servers. With proper configuration and logging enabled, such a system can stop and/or alert for many attempts to gain unauthorized access to resources.
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
This is a Category 1 finding due to the potential for gaining unauthorized system access. Pipes are internal system communications processes. They are identified internally by ID numbers that vary between systems. To make access to these processes easier, these pipes are given names that do not vary between systems. This setting controls which of these pipes may be accessed anonymously.
high
The registry is integral to the function, security, and stability of the Windows system. Some processes may require remote access to the registry. This setting controls which registry paths are accessible from a remote computer. These registry paths must be limited, as they could give unauthorized individuals access to the registry.
high
This is a Category 1 finding because the potential for gaining unauthorized system access. Any shares listed can be accessed by any network user. This could lead to the exposure or corruption of sensitive data. Enabling this setting is very dangerous.
high
This setting controls whether or not solicited remote assistance is allowed from this computer. Solicited assistance is help that is specifically requested by the user. This is a Category 1 finding because it may allow unauthorized parties access to the resources on the computer.
high
This is a Category 1 finding because no accounts with blank passwords should exist on a system. The password policy should prevent this from occurring. However, if a local account with a blank password does exist, enabling this setting will limit the account to local console logon only.
medium
This setting controls the ability to undock the system without having to log on. Since the removal of a computer should be controlled, users should have to log on before undocking the computer to ensure that they have the appropriate rights to undock the system. In addition to software security settings, physical security should be in place to prevent unauthorized removal of computers.
low
This setting controls the maximum password age that a machine account may have. This setting should be set to no more than 30 days, ensuring the machine changes its password monthly.
medium
This setting controls the storage of passwords and credentials for network authentication on the local system. Such credentials should never be stored on the local machine as that may lead to account compromise.
medium
This setting helps define the permissions that anonymous users have. If this setting is enabled then anonymous users have the same rights and permissions as the built-in Everyone group. Anonymous users should not have these permissions or rights.
medium
Windows includes two network-sharing security models—Classic and Guest only. With the classic model, local accounts must be password protected; otherwise, anyone can use guest user accounts to access shared system resources.
high
This setting controls whether or not a LAN Manager hash of the password is stored in the SAM the next time the password is changed. The LAN Manager hash is a weak encryption algorithm and there are several tools available that use this hash to retrieve account passwords.
medium
This setting controls whether or not users are forced to log off when their allowed logon hours expire. If logon hours are set for users, then this should be enforced.
medium
This setting controls the signing requirements for LDAP clients. This setting should be set to Negotiate signing or Require signing depending on the environment and type of LDAP server in use.
medium
Windows has implemented a variety of security support providers for use with RPC sessions. In a homogenous Windows environment, all of the options should be enabled and testing should be performed in a heterogeneous environment to determine the maximum-security level that provides reliable functionality.
medium
This setting ensures that 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 should be the algorithms used for all OS encryption functions.
medium
This setting controls the behavior of non-Windows subsystems when dealing with the case of arguments or commands. Case sensitivity could lead to the access of files or commands that must be restricted. To prevent this from happening, case insensitivity restrictions must be required.
medium
This setting limits users to one remote session. It is possible, if this setting is disabled, for users to establish multiple sessions.
medium
This setting controls the ability of users to supply passwords automatically as part of their Remote Desktop session. Disabling this setting would allow anyone to use the stored credentials in a connection item to connect to the host.
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.
medium
This setting controls the use of per session temporary folders or of a communal temporary folder. If this setting is enabled, only one temporary folder is used for all remote desktop sessions. If a communal temporary folder is used, it might be possible for users to access other users’ temporary folders.
medium
This setting controls the deletion of the temporary folders when the session is terminated. Temporary folders should always be deleted after a session is over to prevent hard disk clutter and potential leakage of information.
medium
If this setting is enabled, then Group Policy settings are not refreshed while a user is currently logged on. This could lead to instances when a user does not have the latest changes to a policy applied and is therefore operating in an insecure context.
medium
This setting controls whether unsolicited offers of help to this computer are allowed. The list of users allowed to offer remote assistance to this system is accessed by pressing the Helpers button.
low
The Windows Time Service controls time synchronization settings. Time synchronization is essential for authentication and auditing purposes. If the Windows Time Service is used, it must synchronize with a secure, authorized time source. Domain joined systems are automatically configured to synchronize with domain controllers. If an NTP server is configured, it must synchronize with a secure, authorized time source.
medium
The default search behavior, when an application calls a function in a Dynamic Link Library (DLL), is to search the current directory followed by the directories contained in the systems path environment variable. An unauthorized DLL inserted into an applications working directory could allow malicious code to be run on the system. Creating the following registry key and setting the appropriate value forces the system to search the %Systemroot% for the DLL before searching the current directory or the rest of the path.
medium
Uncontrolled system updates can introduce issues to a system. The automatic check for updates performed by Windows Media Player must be disabled to ensure a constant platform and to prevent the introduction of unknown\untested software on the system.
medium
The Windows Media Player uses software components, referred to as Codecs, to play back media files. By default, when an unknown file type is opened with the Media Player it will search the Internet for the appropriate Codec and automatically download it. To ensure platform consistency and to protect against new vulnerabilities associated with media types, all Codecs must be installed by the System Administrator.
medium
Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some services may be run under the local System account, which generally has more permissions than required by the service. Compromising a service could allow an intruder to obtain system permissions and open the system to a variety of attacks.
medium
To be of value, audit logs from servers and other critical systems will be reviewed on a daily basis to identify security breaches and potential weaknesses in the security structure. This can be done with the use of monitoring software or other utilities for this purpose.
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
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.
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.
high
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 user account.
Since administrative user accounts may generally change or work around technical restrictions for running a web browser or other applications, it is essential that policy requires administrative users not access the internet or use applications, such as email.
The policy should 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.
Technical means such as application whitelisting can be used to enforce the policy to ensure compliance.
Since administrative user accounts may generally change or work around technical restrictions for running a web browser or other applications, it is essential that policy requires administrative users not access the internet or use applications, such as email.
The policy should 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.
Technical means such as application whitelisting can be used to enforce the policy to ensure compliance.
medium
Windows has implemented a variety of security support providers for use with RPC sessions. In a homogenous Windows environment, all of the options should be enabled and testing should be performed in a heterogeneous environment to determine the maximum-security level that provides reliable functionality.
medium
Major software vendors release security patches and hot fixes to their products when security vulnerabilities are discovered. It is essential that these updates be applied in a timely manner to prevent unauthorized persons from exploiting identified vulnerabilities.
The Severity code may be elevated to a Category I if patches deemed Critical have not been applied.
The Severity code may be elevated to a Category I if patches deemed Critical have not been applied.
medium
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.
low
Audit records may be lost if the security log becomes full. When the audit log reaches a given percent full, an audit event is written to the security log. An event is recorded as a success audit under the category of System. This option may be especially useful if the audit logs are set to be cleared manually.
low
Enables or disables the Internet Router Discovery Protocol (IRDP) used to detect and configure Default Gateway addresses on the computer.
low
Controls how often TCP sends a keep-alive packet in attempting to verify that an idle connection is still intact.
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 servers WINS resolution capability.
low
In a SYN flood attack, the attacker sends a continuous stream of SYN packets to a server, and the server leaves the half-open connections open until it is overwhelmed and no longer able to respond to legitimate requests.
low
Allowing more than several seconds for password protection to take effect when a screen saver becomes active makes the computer vulnerable to a potential attack from someone walking up to the console to attempt to access the system.
high
The registry is integral to the function, security, and stability of the Windows system. Some processes may require remote access to the registry. This setting controls which registry paths and sub-paths are accessible from a remote computer. These registry paths must be limited, as they could give unauthorized individuals access to the registry.
medium
Configuring this setting so that users must provide a password (distinct from their domain password) every time they use a key makes it more difficult for an attacker to access locally stored user keys, even if the attacker takes control of the user's computers and determines their logon password.
low
The POSIX subsystem is an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) standard that defines a set of operating system services. The POSIX Subsystem is required if the server supports applications that use that subsystem.
The subsystem introduces a security risk relating to processes that can potentially persist across logins. That is, if a user starts a process and then logs out, there is a potential that the next user who logs in to the system could access the previous users process. This is dangerous because the process started by the first user may retain that users system privileges; anything the second user does with that process will be performed with the privileges of the first user.
The subsystem introduces a security risk relating to processes that can potentially persist across logins. That is, if a user starts a process and then logs out, there is a potential that the next user who logs in to the system could access the previous users process. This is dangerous because the process started by the first user may retain that users system privileges; anything the second user does with that process will be performed with the privileges of the first user.
medium
Allowing unsecure RPC communication exposes the server 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.
medium
Enabling this setting and then selecting the "Process even if the Group Policy objects have not changed" option ensures that 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
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.
Authorization Policy Change records events related to changes in user rights, such as Create a token object.
medium
Utilizing a whitelist provides a configuration management method for allowing the execution of only authorized software. Using only authorized software decreases risk by limiting the number of potential vulnerabilities.
The organization must identify authorized software programs and only permit execution of authorized software. The process used to identify software programs that are authorized to execute on organizational information systems is commonly referred to as whitelisting.
The organization must identify authorized software programs and only permit execution of authorized software. The process used to identify software programs that are authorized to execute on organizational information systems is commonly referred to as whitelisting.
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.
medium
If this policy is enabled, it causes the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) client to perform SMB packet signing when communicating with an SMB server that is enabled or required to perform SMB packet signing.
medium
If this policy is enabled, it causes the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) server to always perform SMB packet signing.
high
This is a Category 1 finding because of the potential for gaining unauthorized system access.
Pipes are internal system communications processes. They are identified internally by ID numbers that vary between systems. To make access to these processes easier, these pipes are given names that do not vary between systems.
When this setting is disabled, Network shares can be accessed by any network user. This could lead to the exposure or corruption of sensitive data.
Pipes are internal system communications processes. They are identified internally by ID numbers that vary between systems. To make access to these processes easier, these pipes are given names that do not vary between systems.
When this setting is disabled, Network shares can be accessed by any network user. This could lead to the exposure or corruption of sensitive data.
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 causing the device, information, or the local network to be compromised or a denial of service.
medium
Passwords that do not expire increase the exposure of a password with greater probability of being discovered or cracked.
high
The lack of password protection enables anyone to gain access to the information system, which opens a backdoor opportunity for intruders to compromise the system as well as other resources within the same administrative domain.
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. This setting will prevent WDigest from storing credentials in memory.
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.
Disabling SMBv1 support may prevent access to file or print sharing resources with systems or devices that only support SMBv1. File shares and print services hosted on Windows Server 2003 are an example, however Windows Server 2003 is no longer a supported operating system. Some older network attached devices may only support SMBv1.
Disabling SMBv1 support may prevent access to file or print sharing resources with systems or devices that only support SMBv1. File shares and print services hosted on Windows Server 2003 are an example, however Windows Server 2003 is no longer a supported operating system. Some older network attached devices may only support SMBv1.
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.
Disabling SMBv1 support may prevent access to file or print sharing resources with systems or devices that only support SMBv1. File shares and print services hosted on Windows Server 2003 are an example, however Windows Server 2003 is no longer a supported operating system. Some older network attached devices may only support SMBv1.
Disabling SMBv1 support may prevent access to file or print sharing resources with systems or devices that only support SMBv1. File shares and print services hosted on Windows Server 2003 are an example, however Windows Server 2003 is no longer a supported operating system. Some older network attached devices may only support SMBv1.
medium
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 for some reason.
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.
Account Lockout events can be used to identify potentially malicious logon attempts.
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.
Account Lockout events can be used to identify potentially malicious logon attempts.
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.
Audit Other System Events records information related to cryptographic key operations and the Windows Firewall service.
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.
Audit Other System Events records information related to cryptographic key operations and the Windows Firewall service.
medium
Later versions of Windows PowerShell provide additional security and advanced logging features that can provide greater detail when malware has been run on a system. PowerShell 5.x includes the advanced logging features. PowerShell 4.0 with the addition of patch KB3109118 on Windows 2008 R2 adds advanced logging features.
PowerShell is updated with the installation of the corresponding version of the Windows Management Framework (WMF).
Updating to a later PowerShell version may have compatibility issues with some applications. The following links should be reviewed and updates tested before applying to a production environment.
WMF 4.0:
Review the System Requirements under the download link - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40855
WMF 5.0:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/wmf/5.0/productincompat
WMF 5.1:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/wmf/5.1/productincompat
PowerShell is updated with the installation of the corresponding version of the Windows Management Framework (WMF).
Updating to a later PowerShell version may have compatibility issues with some applications. The following links should be reviewed and updates tested before applying to a production environment.
WMF 4.0:
Review the System Requirements under the download link - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40855
WMF 5.0:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/wmf/5.0/productincompat
WMF 5.1:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/wmf/5.1/productincompat
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.
PowerShell 5.x supports script block logging. PowerShell 4.0 with the addition of patch KB3109118 on Windows 2008 R2 adds support for script block logging.
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.
PowerShell 5.x supports script block logging. PowerShell 4.0 with the addition of patch KB3109118 on Windows 2008 R2 adds support for script block logging.