The machine account lockout threshold must be set to 10 on systems with BitLocker enabled.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-36772	WN08-SO-000020	SV-48458r1_rule	ECLO-1 ECLO-2	Medium

Description
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.

STIG	Date
Windows 8 / 8.1 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2014-06-27

Details

Check Text ( C-45122r1_chk )
Verify whether Bitlocker is enabled for the OS volumes in "Bitlocker Drive Encryption" in Control Panel. If Bitlocker is not enabled, this is not applicable. Analyze the system using the Security Configuration and Analysis snap-in. (See "Performing Analysis with the Security Configuration and Analysis Snap-in" in the STIG Overview document.) Expand the Security Configuration and Analysis tree view. Navigate to Local Policies -> Security Options. If the value for "Interactive logon: Machine account lockout threshold" is not set to "10" invalid logon attempts or less, this is a finding. The policy referenced configures the following registry value: Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Registry Path: \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\ Value Name: MaxDevicePasswordFailedAttempts Value Type: REG_DWORD Value: 0x0000000a (10)

Check Text ( C-45122r1_chk )

Verify whether Bitlocker is enabled for the OS volumes in "Bitlocker Drive Encryption" in Control Panel. If Bitlocker is not enabled, this is not applicable.

Analyze the system using the Security Configuration and Analysis snap-in. (See "Performing Analysis with the Security Configuration and Analysis Snap-in" in the STIG Overview document.)
Expand the Security Configuration and Analysis tree view.
Navigate to Local Policies -> Security Options.

If the value for "Interactive logon: Machine account lockout threshold" is not set to "10" invalid logon attempts or less, this is a finding.

The policy referenced configures the following registry value:

Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Registry Path: \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\

Value Name: MaxDevicePasswordFailedAttempts

Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0x0000000a (10)

Fix Text (F-41585r1_fix)
If Bitlocker is enabled for the OS volumes, configure the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options -> "Interactive logon: Machine account lockout threshold" to "10" invalid logon attempts.