| V-1074 | High | An approved, up-to-date, DOD antivirus program must be installed and used. | Antivirus programs are a primary line of defense against the introduction of viruses and malicious code that can destroy data and even render a computer inoperable. Utilizing an antivirus program... |
| V-1073 | High | Systems must be at supported service pack (SP) or release levels. | Systems at unsupported service packs or releases will not receive security updates for new vulnerabilities and leaves them subject to exploitation. Systems must be maintained at a service pack... |
| V-34974 | High | The Windows Installer Always install with elevated privileges must be disabled. | 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... |
| V-26479 | High | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Create a token object user right. | 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.... |
| V-26070 | High | Standard user accounts will only have Read permissions to the Winlogon registry key. | Permissions on the Winlogon registry key should only allow privileged accounts to change registry values. If standard users have this capability there is a potential for programs to run with... |
| V-3337 | High | Anonymous SID/Name translation will not be allowed. | This is a Category 1 finding because this setting controls the ability of users or process that have authenticated as anonymous users to perform SID/Name translation. This setting should be... |
| V-18010 | High | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Debug programs user right. | 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... |
| V-1081 | High | Local volumes will be formatted using NTFS. | 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... |
| V-6834 | High | Anonymous access to Named Pipes and Shares will be restricted. | 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... |
| V-1159 | High | The Recovery Console option will be set to prevent automatic logon to the system. | This is a Category 1 finding because if this option is set, the Recovery Console does not require you to provide a password and will automatically log on to the system, giving Administrator access... |
| V-1152 | High | Anonymous access to the registry will be restricted. | This is a Category I finding, because this vulnerability allows an anonymous individual read-access and write-access to some parts of the registry.
The permissions set for the Winreg subkey... |
| V-1153 | High | The LanMan authentication level will be set to Send NTLMv2 response only\refuse LM & NTLM. | 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... |
| V-32282 | High | Standard user accounts must only have Read permissions to the Active Setup\Installed Components registry key. | 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... |
| V-1093 | High | Anonymous enumeration of shares will be restricted. | 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... |
| V-1140 | High | Users with Administrative privilege will be documented and have separate accounts for administrative duties and normal operational tasks. | 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... |
| V-26283 | High | Anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts will not be allowed. | 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. |
| V-2908 | High | Unencrypted remote access will not be permitted to system services. | 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. ... |
| V-57637 | High | The operating system must employ a deny-all, permit-by-exception policy to allow the execution of authorized software programs. | 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... |
| V-36451 | High | Policy must require that administrative user accounts not be used with applications that access the internet, such as web browsers, or with potential internet sources, such as email. | 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... |
| V-1121 | High | Installed FTP server will not be configured to allow access to the system drive. | This is a Category 1 finding because the FTP service allows remote users to access shared files and directories which could provide access to system resources and compromise the system, especially... |
| V-1127 | High | Only administrators responsible for the system must have Administrator rights on the system. | 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... |
| V-3339 | High | Unauthorized remotely accessible registry paths must not be configured. | 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... |
| V-7002 | High | DoD information system access will require the use of a password. | 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... |
| V-22692 | High | The default autorun behavior will be configured to prevent autorun commands. | Allowing autorun commands to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. Configuring this setting prevents autorun commands from executing. |
| V-2374 | High | Autoplay will be disabled for all drives. | 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... |
| V-36664 | High | The system must not use removable media as the boot loader. | Malicious users with removable boot media can gain access to a system configured to use removable media as the boot loader. |
| V-3343 | High | Solicited Remote Assistance will not be allowed. | 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... |
| V-3340 | High | Network shares that can be accessed anonymously will not be allowed. | 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... |
| V-3344 | High | The use of local accounts with blank passwords will be restricted to console logons only. | 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... |
| V-4443 | High | Unauthorized remotely accessible registry paths and sub-paths must not be configured. | 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... |
| V-3338 | High | Named pipes that can be accessed anonymously will be configured to contain no values. | 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... |
| V-1102 | High | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Act as part of the operating system user right. | 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... |
| V-3379 | High | The system will be configured to prevent the storage of the LAN Manager hash of passwords. | 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... |
| V-1077 | Medium | Permissions for event logs must conform to minimum requirements. | 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.... |
| V-1072 | Medium | Shared user accounts will not be permitted on the system. | Shared accounts do not provide individual accountability for system access and resource usage. |
| V-1070 | Medium | The Automated Information System (AIS) will be physically secured in an access controlled area. | 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. ... |
| V-26499 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Perform volume maintenance tasks user right. | 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... |
| V-14259 | Medium | Printing over HTTP will be prevented. | 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. |
| V-26498 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Modify firmware environment values user right. | 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... |
| V-26576 | Medium | The IP-HTTPS IPv6 transition technology will be disabled. | IPv6 transition technologies which tunnel packets through other protocols do not provide visibility. |
| V-26577 | Medium | The ISATAP IPv6 transition technology will be disabled. | IPv6 transition technologies which tunnel packets through other protocols do not provide visibility. |
| V-26575 | Medium | The 6to4 IPv6 transition technology will be disabled.
| IPv6 transition technologies which tunnel packets through other protocols do not provide visibility. |
| V-15505 | Medium | The HBSS McAfee Agent will be installed. | |
| V-3385 | Medium | The system must be configured to require case insensitivity for non-Windows subsystems. | 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... |
| V-3383 | Medium | The system will be configured to use FIPS-compliant algorithms for encryption, hashing, and signing. | 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.... |
| V-3381 | Medium | The system will be configured to the required LDAP client signing level. | 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. |
| V-3380 | Medium | The system will be configured to force users to log off when their allowed logon hours expire. | 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. |
| V-26478 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Create a pagefile user right. | 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,... |
| V-26476 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Change the system time user right. | 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,... |
| V-26602 | Medium | The Microsoft FTP service will be disabled.
| Unnecessary Services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption.
|
| V-3469 | Medium | The system will be configured to enable the background refresh of Group Policy. | 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... |
| V-26473 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Allow log on through Remote Desktop Services user right. | 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... |
| V-26472 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Allow log on locally user right. | 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. |
| V-26471 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Adjust memory quotas for a process user right. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Adjust memory quotas for a process" user right can adjust memory... |
| V-26470 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Access this computer from the network user right on member servers. | 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... |
| V-15727 | Medium | Users will be prevented from sharing files in their profiles. | This check verifies that users are prevented from sharing files. |
| V-15823 | Medium | Software certificate installation files will be removed from a system. | This check verifies that software certificate installation files have been removed from a system. |
| V-15722 | Medium | Windows Media Digital Rights Management will be prevented from accessing the Internet. | This check verifies that Windows Media Digital Rights Management will be prevented from accessing the Internet. |
| V-16000 | Medium | The system will be configured to ensure smart card devices can be redirected to the Remote Desktop Session. (Remote Desktop Services Role) | This check verifies that the system is configured to ensure smart card devices can be redirected to the Remote Desktop session. |
| V-56511 | Medium | The Windows Error Reporting Service must be running and configured to start automatically. | Windows Error Reporting information can be used to help diagnose day-to-day software issues, as well as help discover malicious code and possibly zero-day attacks on systems. |
| V-16006 | Medium | Unnecessary features will not be installed. | Windows Server 2008 includes additional features available for installation through Server Manager. The majority of these are unnecessary for the server roles and may also increase the attack... |
| V-16008 | Medium | Windows will elevate all applications in User Account Control, not just signed ones. | This check verifies that Windows elevates all applications, not just signed ones. |
| V-3666 | Medium | The system will be configured to meet the minimum session security requirement for NTLM SSP based servers. | 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... |
| V-26503 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Replace a process level token user right. | 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... |
| V-26501 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Profile system performance user right. | 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... |
| V-1168 | Medium | Members of the Backup Operators group will have separate accounts for backup duties and normal operational tasks. | 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... |
| V-26505 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Shut down the system user right. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Shut down the system" user right can interactively shut down a... |
| V-26504 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Restore files and directories user right. | 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... |
| V-1164 | Medium | Outgoing secure channel traffic will be signed when possible. | 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... |
| V-1166 | Medium | The Windows SMB client will be enabled to perform SMB packet signing when possible. | 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... |
| V-3378 | Medium | The system will be configured to use the Classic security model. | 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... |
| V-1163 | Medium | Outgoing secure channel traffic will be encrypted when possible. | 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... |
| V-1162 | Medium | The Windows SMB server will perform SMB packet signing when possible. | If this policy is enabled, it causes the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) server to perform SMB packet signing. |
| V-3470 | Medium | The system will be configured to prevent unsolicited remote assistance offers. | 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. |
| V-1088 | Medium | The registry must be audited for failed access attempts. | Improper modification of the registry can have a significant impact on the security configuration of a system as well as potentially rendering a system inoperable. Failed access attempts may... |
| V-1089 | Medium | The required legal notice must be configured to display before console logon. | Failure to display the logon banner prior to a logon attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources. |
| V-26469 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Access Credential Manager as a trusted caller user right. | 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... |
| V-14240 | Medium | User Account Control will run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode, enabling UAC. | This check verifies that UAC has not been disabled. |
| V-3479 | Medium | The system will be configured to use Safe DLL Search Mode. | 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... |
| V-1080 | Medium | The file system must be audited for failed access attempts. | Improper modification of system files can have a significant impact on the security configuration of a system as well as potentially rendering a system inoperable. Failed access attempts may... |
| V-3245 | Medium | File share ACLs will be reconfigured to remove the Everyone group. | 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. |
| V-14243 | Medium | The system will require username and password to elevate a running application. | This check verifies that the system is configured to always require a user to type in a user name and password to elevate a running application. |
| V-14256 | Medium | Web publishing and online ordering wizards will be prevented from downloading a list of providers. | 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. |
| V-26547 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Policy Change -> Audit Policy Change" failures.
| 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... |
| V-14242 | Medium | User Account Control will virtualize file and registry write failures to per-user locations. | This check verifies that non UAC-compliant applications will run in virtualized file and registry entries allowing them to run. |
| V-26582 | Medium | The System event log must be configured to a minimum size requirement. | 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. |
| V-26581 | Medium | The Setup event log must be configured to a minimum size requirement. | 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. |
| V-26580 | Medium | The Security event log must be configured to a minimum size requirement. | 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. |
| V-15697 | Medium | The Responder network protocol driver will be disabled. | This check verifies that the Responder network protocol driver is disabled. |
| V-15696 | Medium | The Mapper I/O network protocol driver will be disabled. | This check verifies that the Mapper I/O network protocol driver is disabled. |
| V-6836 | Medium | For systems utilizing a logon ID as the individual identifier, passwords will, at a minimum, be 14 characters. | 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... |
| V-26543 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Logon/Logoff -> Special Logon" successes.
| 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... |
| V-6832 | Medium | The Windows SMB client will be enabled to always perform SMB packet signing. | 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... |
| V-6833 | Medium | The Windows SMB server will be enabled to always perform SMB packet signing. | If this policy is enabled, it causes the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) server to always perform SMB packet signing. |
| V-6831 | Medium | Outgoing secure channel traffic will be encrypted or signed. | 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... |
| V-14262 | Medium | IPv6 must be disabled until a deliberate transition strategy has been implemented. | Any nodes’ interface with IPv6 enabled by default presents a potential risk of traffic being transmitted or received without proper risk mitigation strategy and is, therefore, a serious security concern. |
| V-14261 | Medium | Windows will be prevented from using Windows Update to search for drivers. | 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. |
| V-14260 | Medium | Downloading print driver packages over HTTP will be prevented. | This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent the computer from downloading print driver packages over HTTP. |
| V-1154 | Medium | The Ctrl+Alt+Del security attention sequence for logons will be enabled. | 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... |
| V-1155 | Medium | The Deny access to this computer from the network user right on member servers must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts and local administrator accounts on domain systems and unauthenticated access on all systems. | 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... |
| V-14269 | Medium | Mechanisms for removing zone information from file attachments will be hidden. | This check verifies that users cannot manually remove zone information from saved file attachments. |
| V-3289 | Medium | Servers will have a host-based Intrusion Detection System. | 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... |
| V-1099 | Medium | The account lockout duration must be configured to require an administrator to unlock an account. | 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... |
| V-1098 | Medium | The period of time before the invalid logon counter is reset must be configured to at least 60 minutes. | 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... |
| V-2372 | Medium | Reversible password encryption will be disabled. | 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. |
| V-3449 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services will limit users to one remote session. | This setting limits users to one remote session. It is possible, if this setting is disabled, for users to establish multiple sessions. |
| V-14254 | Medium | Client computers must be required to authenticate for RPC communication. | Configuring RPC to require authentication to the RPC Endpoint Mapper will force clients to provide authentication before RPC communication is established. |
| V-1097 | Medium | The system must lockout accounts after 3 invalid logon attempts within a specified time period. | 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... |
| V-3382 | Medium | The system will be configured to meet the minimum session security requirement for NTLM SSP based clients. | 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... |
| V-3372 | Medium | A system must be logged on to before removing from a docking station. | 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... |
| V-15991 | Medium | UIAccess applications will not be allowed to prompt for elevation without using the secure desktop. | This check verifies whether User Interface Accessibility programs can automatically disable the secure desktop for elevation prompts for a standard user. |
| V-3376 | Medium | The system will be configured to prevent the storage of passwords and credentials | 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... |
| V-15997 | Medium | The system will be configured to prevent users from mapping local COM ports and redirecting data from the Remote Desktop Session Host to local COM ports. (Remote Desktop Services Role) | 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. |
| V-3374 | Medium | The system will be configured to require a strong session key. | This setting controls the required strength of a session key. |
| V-36439 | Medium | Local administrator accounts must have their privileged token filtered to prevent elevated privileges from being used over the network on domain systems. | 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... |
| V-1119 | Medium | Booting into alternate non STIG compliant operating systems will not be permitted. | 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... |
| V-15998 | Medium | The system will be configured to prevent users from mapping local LPT ports and redirecting data from the Remote Desktop Session Host to local LPT ports. (Remote Desktop Services Role) | 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. |
| V-15999 | Medium | The system will be configured to prevent users from redirecting Plug and Play devices to the Remote Desktop Session Host. (Remote Desktop Services Role) | This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent users from redirecting Plug and Play devices to the Remote Desktop Session Host. |
| V-4444 | Medium | Users must be required to enter a password to access private keys stored on the computer. | 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... |
| V-15682 | Medium | Attachments must be prevented from being downloaded from RSS feeds. | Attachments from RSS feeds may not be secure. This setting will prevent attachments from being downloaded from RSS feeds. |
| V-15683 | Medium | Windows Explorer shell protocol will run in protected mode. | This check verifies that the shell protocol runs in protected mode. (This allows applications to only open limited folders.) |
| V-1145 | Medium | Automatic logons must be disabled. | 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... |
| V-1141 | Medium | Unencrypted passwords must not be sent to third-party SMB Servers. | 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... |
| V-15685 | Medium | Users will be prevented from changing installation options. | This check verifies that users are prevented from changing installation options. |
| V-1171 | Medium | Ejection of removable NTFS media is not restricted to Administrators. | 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... |
| V-14230 | Medium | Audit policy using subcategories will be enabled. | This policy setting allows administrators to enable the more precise auditing capabilities present in Windows Vista and 2008 forward. |
| V-57473 | Medium | The maximum number of error reports to queue on a system must be configured to 50 or greater. | The error reporting queue is stored locally on the system and contains the error reports until they have been manually removed or automatically sent to the local collector or DOD-wide collector... |
| V-57471 | Medium | The system must be configured to add all error reports to the queue. | Error reports are queued for sending to an error reporting site when the queueing behavior is set to Always Queue. This will maintain the reports in the queue until a connection can be made to... |
| V-57477 | Medium | The system must be configured to automatically consent to send all data requested by a local or DOD-wide error collection site. | Configuring error reporting to send all requested data ensures all relevant data associated with the error report is captured for later analysis. This setting determines the default consent... |
| V-14271 | Medium | Application account passwords will meet DoD requirements for length, complexity and changes. | Setting application accounts to expire may cause applications to stop functioning. The site will have a policy that application account passwords manually generated and entered by a system... |
| V-57475 | Medium | The system must be configured to attempt to forward queued error reports once a day. | Error reports stored in the queue should be forwarded to a local or DOD-wide collection site when the system can connect to the site. This setting controls the frequency a system will use to try... |
| V-57479 | Medium | The system must be configured to permit the default consent levels of Windows Error Reporting to override any other consent policy setting. | This setting determines the behavior of the "Configure Default Consent" setting in relation to custom consent settings. Enabling this allows the default consent levels of Windows Error Reporting... |
| V-3458 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services will be configured to disconnect an idle session after the specified time period. | This setting controls how long a session may be idle before it is automatically disconnected from the server. Users should disconnect if they plan on being away from their terminals for extended... |
| V-26541 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Logon/Logoff -> Logon" successes.
| 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... |
| V-14239 | Medium | User Account Control will only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations | 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. |
| V-3453 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services will always prompt a client for passwords upon connection. | 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... |
| V-3457 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services will be configured to set a time limit for disconnected sessions. | This setting controls how long a session will remain open if it is unexpectedly terminated. Such sessions should be terminated as soon as possible. |
| V-3456 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services will delete temporary folders when a session is terminated. | 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... |
| V-3455 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services will be configured to use session-specific temporary folders. | 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... |
| V-3454 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services will be configured with the client connection encryption set to the required level. | 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. |
| V-26600 | Medium | The Fax service will be disabled.
| Unnecessary Services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption. |
| V-14270 | Medium | The system will notify antivirus when file attachments are opened. | This check verifies that antivirus programs are notified when a user opens a file attachment. |
| V-26487 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation user right. | 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... |
| V-15666 | Medium | Windows Peer-to-Peer networking services will be turned off. | This check verifies Microsoft Peer-to-Peer Networking Service is turned off. |
| V-15713 | Medium | Windows Defender SpyNet membership will be disabled. | This check verifies that SpyNet membership is disabled. |
| V-1130 | Medium | ACLs for system files and directories will conform to minimum requirements. | Failure to properly configure ACL file and directory permissions allows the possibility of unauthorized and anonymous modification to the operating system and installed applications. |
| V-1131 | Medium | A password complexity filter that enforces DoD requirements will be installed. | Password complexity software (e.g., Password Policy Enforcer) enforces a minimum mix of character types and potentially other options to create strong passwords. The following policy will be... |
| V-2907 | Medium | System files will be monitored for unauthorized changes. | Comparing system files against a baseline on a regular basis will detect the possibility of introduction of malicious code on the system. |
| V-3487 | Medium | Services will be documented and unnecessary services will not be installed or will be disabled. | 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. ... |
| V-26604 | Medium | The Peer Networking Identity Manager service will be disabled.
| Unnecessary Services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption.
|
| V-15674 | Medium | The Internet File Association service will be turned off. | This check verifies that unhandled file associations will not use the Microsoft Web service to find an application. |
| V-26605 | Medium | The Simple TCP/IP Services service will be disabled.
| Unnecessary Services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption.
|
| V-14241 | Medium | User Account Control will switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation. | This check verifies that the elevation prompt is only used in secure desktop mode. |
| V-57461 | Medium | The system must be configured to send error reports on TCP port 1232. | An error reporting site's TCP port must be defined in the local system in order to forward data from local systems via TCP. Port 1232 is the recommended port setting. |
| V-26538 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Management -> User Account Management" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26539 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Detailed Tracking -> Process Creation" successes.
| 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... |
| V-57465 | Medium | The system must be configured to store all data in the error report archive. | The error reporting archive is stored locally on the system and is created after an error report has been sent to the local collector or DOD-wide collector (if defined). Storing all data,... |
| V-14247 | Medium | Passwords will not be saved in the Remote Desktop Client. | This check verifies that the system is configured to prevent users from saving passwords in the Remote Desktop Client. |
| V-57467 | Medium | The maximum number of error reports to archive on a system must be configured to 100 or greater. | The retention of archived reports provides a history. Older reports are automatically deleted as new reports are generated once the maximum limit has been met. The archive is stored locally on... |
| V-14249 | Medium | Local drives will be prevented from sharing with Remote Desktop Session Hosts (Remote Desktop Services Role). | 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. |
| V-57469 | Medium | The system must be configured to queue error reports until a local or DOD-wide collector is available. | Queueing error reports provides the ability for a system to collect reports locally or until a collection server can be contacted. Valuable system diagnostic and vulnerability information may be... |
| V-26530 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Logon -> Credential Validation" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26531 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Management -> Computer Account Management" successes.
| 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... |
| V-26536 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Management -> Security Group Management" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26537 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Management -> User Account Management" successes.
| 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... |
| V-26534 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Management -> Other Account Management Events" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26535 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Management -> Security Group Management" successes.
| 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... |
| V-26483 | Medium | The Deny log on as a batch job user right on member servers must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts on domain systems and unauthenticated access on all systems. | 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... |
| V-14228 | Medium | Auditing Access of Global System Objects must be turned off. | 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... |
| V-3377 | Medium | The system will be configured to prevent anonymous users from having the same rights as the Everyone group. | 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. ... |
| V-6840 | Medium | System mechanisms will be implemented to enforce automatic expiration of passwords. | Passwords that do not expire increase the exposure of a password with greater probability of being discovered or cracked. |
| V-1115 | Medium | The built-in administrator account will be renamed. | 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. |
| V-26606 | Medium | The Telnet service will be disabled.
| Unnecessary Services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption.
|
| V-1114 | Medium | The built-in guest account will be renamed. | 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... |
| V-1120 | Medium | Installed FTP server will not be configured to allow prohibited logins. | The FTP (File Transfer Protocol) service allows remote users to access shared files and directories. Allowing anonymous FTP connections makes user auditing difficult.
Using accounts that have... |
| V-1122 | Medium | The system will be configured with a password-protected screen saver. | 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... |
| V-26529 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Logon -> Credential Validation" successes. | 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... |
| V-15667 | Medium | Network Bridges will be prohibited in Windows. | This check verifies the Network Bridge cannot be installed and configured. |
| V-26532 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Management -> Computer Account Management" failures.
| 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... |
| V-21975 | Medium | The system will be prevented from joining a homegroup. | 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. |
| V-57459 | Medium | The system must be configured to use SSL to forward error reports. | The use of SSL enables the secure forwarding of error reporting data from local systems to a reporting site. |
| V-3491 | Medium | Audit logs will be reviewed on a daily basis. | 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... |
| V-57455 | Medium | The system must be configured to prevent the display of error messages to the user. | Displaying error messages to users provides them the option of sending the reports. Error reports should be sent silently, unknown to the user. This setting controls whether users are shown an... |
| V-57457 | Medium | The system must be configured to store error reports locally, on the system or in the enclave, and not send them to Microsoft. | Forwarding error reports to vendors could expose sensitive information. This setting controls the configuration of a local or DOD-wide error reporting site. In order to not send the data to any... |
| V-1113 | Medium | The built-in guest account must be disabled. | 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... |
| V-14253 | Medium | Unauthenticated RPC clients must be restricted from connecting to the RPC server. | Configuring RPC to restrict unauthenticated RPC clients from connecting to the RPC server will prevent anonymous connections. |
| V-15684 | Medium | Users will be notified if a web-based program attempts to install software. | This check verifies that users are notified if a web-based program attempts to install software. |
| V-3828 | Medium | Security-related Software Patches will be applied. | 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... |
| V-26549 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Privilege Use -> Sensitive Privilege Use" successes.
| 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... |
| V-26548 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Policy Change -> Authentication Policy Change" successes.
| 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... |
| V-32274 | Medium | The DoD Interoperability Root CA 1 to DoD Root CA 2 cross certificate must be installed. | To ensure that users do not experience denial of service on NIPRNet when performing certificate-based authentication to DoD websites due to the system chaining to a root other than DoD Root CA 2,... |
| V-26546 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Policy Change -> Audit Policy Change" successes.
| 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... |
| V-26545 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Object Access -> Registry" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26544 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Object Access -> File System" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26533 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Account Management -> Other Account Management Events" successes.
| 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... |
| V-26542 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Logon/Logoff -> Logon" failures.
| 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... |
| V-32272 | Medium | The DoD Root Certificate must be installed. | To ensure secure DoD websites and DoD signed code are properly validated, the system must trust the DoD Root CA 2. The DOD root certificate will ensure that the trust chain is established for... |
| V-26540 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Logon/Logoff -> Logoff" successes.
| 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... |
| V-36663 | Medium | System BIOS or system controllers must have administrator accounts/passwords configured. | A system's BIOS or system controller handles the initial startup of a system, and its configuration must be protected from unauthorized modification. When the BIOS or system controller supports... |
| V-40195 | Medium | System BIOS or system controllers must not allow user-level access. | A system's BIOS or system controller handles the initial startup of a system, and its configuration must be protected from unauthorized modification. When the BIOS or system controller supports... |
| V-21980 | Medium | Explorer Data Execution Prevention will be enabled. | This setting will prevent Data Execution Prevention from being turned off for Windows Explorer. |
| V-1157 | Medium | The Smart Card removal option will be configured to Force Logoff or Lock Workstation. | 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 |
| V-36669 | Medium | The system must be configured to audit Object Access - Handle Manipulation failures. | 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. ... |
| V-3480 | Medium | Media Player must be configured to prevent automatic checking for updates. | 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... |
| V-4448 | Medium | Group Policy objects will be reprocessed even if they have not changed. | 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... |
| V-3481 | Medium | Media Player will be configured to prevent automatic Codec downloads. | 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... |
| V-4447 | Medium | The Remote Desktop Session Host will require secure RPC communications. | 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... |
| V-4446 | Medium | Software certificate restriction policies will be enforced. | Software restriction policies help to protect users and computers from executing unauthorized code such as viruses and Trojans horses.
|
| V-14229 | Medium | Audit of Backup and Restore Privileges will be turned off. | 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. |
| V-14226 | Medium | Audit logs will be archived to prevent loss. | This check verifies that Audit logs are archived to ensure data is not being lost. Audit logs are retained for at least 1 year, with systems containing source and methods intelligence (SAMI)... |
| V-14225 | Medium | Administrator passwords will be changed as required. | This check verifies that the passwords for the default and backup administrator accounts are changed at least annually or when any member of the administrative team leaves the organization.
|
| V-14224 | Medium | The system will have a backup administrator account. | This check verifies that a backup administrator account has been created to ensure system availability in the event that no administrators are able or available to access the system. The built-in... |
| V-26495 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Log on as a batch job user right. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Log on as a batch job" user right allows accounts to log on using the task... |
| V-26494 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Lock pages in memory user right. | 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... |
| V-26497 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Modify an object label user right. | 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... |
| V-26496 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Manage auditing and security log user right. | 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... |
| V-26491 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Increase a process working set user right. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Increase a process working set" user right can change the size of a... |
| V-26493 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Load and unload device drivers user right. | 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... |
| V-26492 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Increase scheduling priority user right. | 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... |
| V-26554 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "System -> Security State Change" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26556 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "System -> Security System Extension" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26557 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "System -> System Integrity" successes.
| 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... |
| V-26550 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "Privilege Use -> Sensitive Privilege Use" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26551 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "System -> IPSec Driver" successes.
| 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... |
| V-26552 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "System -> IPSec Driver" failures.
| 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... |
| V-26553 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "System -> Security State Change" successes.
| 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... |
| V-15700 | Medium | Remote access to the Plug and Play interface will be disabled for device installation. | This check verifies that remote access to the Plug and Play interface is disabled. |
| V-15706 | Medium | The user will be prompted for a password on resume from sleep (Plugged In). (Applicable on Server 2008 R2 if the system is configured to sleep.) | This check verifies that the user is prompted for a password on resume from sleep (Plugged In). |
| V-15705 | Medium | Users will be prompted for a password on resume from sleep (on battery). (Applicable to Server 2008 R2 if the system is configured to sleep.) | This check verifies that the user is prompted for a password on resume from sleep (on battery). |
| V-26578 | Medium | The Teredo IPv6 transition technology will be disabled. | IPv6 transition technologies which tunnel packets through other protocols do not provide visibility. |
| V-14268 | Medium | Zone information will be preserved when saving attachments. | This check verifies that file attachments are marked with their zone of origin allowing Windows to determine risk. |
| V-16048 | Medium | Windows Help Ratings feedback will be turned off. | This check verifies that users cannot provide ratings feedback to Microsoft for Help content |
| V-26474 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Back up files and directories user right. | 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... |
| V-16021 | Medium | The Windows Help Experience Improvement Program will be disabled | This check verifies that the Windows Help Experience Improvement Program is disabled to prevent information from being passed to the vendor. |
| V-16020 | Medium | The Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program will be disabled. | This check verifies that the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program is disabled so information is not passed to the vendor. |
| V-15717 | Medium | The system must be configured to allow a local or DOD-wide collector to request additional error reporting diagnostic data to be sent. | Sending additional error reporting data provides valuable system diagnostic and vulnerability information that would otherwise not be generated nor collected. This setting controls whether... |
| V-1107 | Medium | The password history must be configured to 24 passwords. | 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. ... |
| V-1105 | Medium | The minimum password age must be configured to at least 1 day. | 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... |
| V-1104 | Medium | The maximum password age must be configured to 60 days or less. | 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... |
| V-21951 | Medium | Services using Local System that use negotiate when reverting to NTLM authentication will use the computer identity vs. authenticating anonymously. | This setting ensures that services using Local System that use negotiate when reverting to NTLM authentication will use the computer identity vs. authenticating anonymously. |
| V-21950 | Medium | The service principal name (SPN) target name validation level will be turned off. | 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. |
| V-21953 | Medium | PKU2U authentication using online identities will be prevented. | 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. |
| V-21952 | Medium | NTLM will be prevented from falling back to a Null session. | This setting prevents NTLM from falling back to a Null (unauthenticated) session. |
| V-21954 | Medium | Kerberos encryption types must be configured to prevent the use of DES encryption suites. | 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. |
| V-26579 | Medium | The Application event log must be configured to a minimum size requirement. | 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. |
| V-26558 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "System -> System Integrity" failures.
| 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... |
| V-14234 | Medium | User Account Control approval mode for the built-in Administrator will be enabled. | This check verifies whether the built-in Administrator account runs in Admin Approval Mode. |
| V-14235 | Medium | User Account Control will, at a minimum, prompt administrators for consent. | This check verifies whether logged on administrator is prompted for consent when attempting to complete a task that requires raised privileges. |
| V-14236 | Medium | User Account Control will automatically deny standard user requests for elevation. | This check verifies whether the logged on user is automatically denied elevation when attempting to complete a task that requires raised privileges. |
| V-14237 | Medium | User Account Control will be configured to detect application installations and prompt for elevation. | This check verifies whether Windows responds to application installation requests by prompting for credentials. |
| V-26482 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Create symbolic links user right. | 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... |
| V-15698 | Medium | The configuration of wireless devices using Windows Connect Now will be disabled. | This check verifies that the configuration of wireless devices using Windows Connect Now is disabled. |
| V-26480 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Create global objects user right. | 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... |
| V-26481 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Create permanent shared objects user right. | 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... |
| V-26486 | Medium | The Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services user right on member servers must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts and local administrator accounts on domain systems and unauthenticated access on all systems. | 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... |
| V-26484 | Medium | The Deny log on as a service user right on member servers must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts on domain systems. No other groups or accounts must be assigned this right. | 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... |
| V-26485 | Medium | The Deny log on locally user right on member servers must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts on domain systems and unauthenticated access on all systems. | 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... |
| V-26490 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Impersonate a client after authentication user right. | 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... |
| V-26488 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Force shutdown from a remote system user right. | 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... |
| V-26489 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Generate security audits user right. | 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... |
| V-15699 | Medium | The Windows Connect Now wizards will be disabled. | This check verifies that access to the Windows Connect Now wizards is disabled. |
| V-26500 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Profile single process user right. | 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... |
| V-15714 | Medium | The system must be configured to save Error Reporting events and messages to the system event log. | 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. ... |
| V-15715 | Medium | The system must be configured to generate error reports. | Enabling Windows Error Reporting generates information useful to system administrators and forensics analysts for diagnosing system problems and investigating intrusions. If Windows Error... |
| V-26555 | Medium | The system will be configured to audit "System -> Security System Extension" successes.
| 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... |
| V-57463 | Medium | The system must be configured to archive error reports. | The error reporting archive is stored locally on the system, and is created after an error report has been sent to the local collector or DOD-wide collector (if defined). This creates a backup of... |
| V-21973 | Medium | Autoplay will be turned off for non-volume devices. | This setting will disable autoplay for non-volume devices (such as Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) devices). |
| V-40237 | Medium | The US DoD CCEB Interoperability Root CA 1 to DoD Root CA 2 cross-certificate must be installed into the Untrusted Certificates Store. | To ensure users do not experience denial of service on NIPRNet when performing certificate-based authentication to DoD websites due to the system chaining to a root other than DoD Root CA 2, the... |
| V-26506 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Take ownership of files or other objects user right. | 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... |
| V-1076 | Low | System information backups will be created, updated, and protected. | 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... |
| V-1075 | Low | The shutdown option will not be available from the logon dialog box. | 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... |
| V-4110 | Low | The system will be configured to prevent IP source routing. | Protects against IP source routing spoofing. |
| V-1173 | Low | The default permissions of Global system objects will be increased. | 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... |
| V-26477 | Low | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Change the time zone user right. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Change the time zone" right can change the time zone of a system. |
| V-15676 | Low | The Order Prints Online wizard will be turned off. | This check verifies that the “Order Prints Online” task is not available in Windows Explorer. |
| V-16001 | Low | The system will be configured to allow only the default client printer to be redirected in the Remote Desktop session. (Remote Desktop Services Role) | This check verifies that the system is configured to allow only the default client printer to be redirected in the Remote Desktop session. |
| V-16005 | Low | The system will be configured to remove the Disconnect option from the Shut Down Windows dialog box on the Remote Desktop Client. (Remote Desktop Services Role) | This check verifies that the system is configured to remove the Disconnect option from the Shut Down Windows dialog box on the client. |
| V-26359 | Low | The Windows dialog box title for the legal banner will be configured. | Failure to display the logon banner prior to a logon attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources. |
| V-26502 | Low | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Remove computer from docking station user right. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Remove computer from docking station" user right defines accounts that can undock... |
| V-3472 | Low | If the time service is configured, it will use an authorized time server. | 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 should... |
| V-1165 | Low | The computer account password will not be prevented from being reset. | 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.... |
| V-11806 | Low | The system will be configured to prevent the display of the last user name on the logon screen. | 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. |
| V-1158 | Low | The Recovery Console SET command must be disabled. | The Recovery Console SET command allows environment variables to be set in the Recovery Console. This permits access to all drives and folders and the copying of files to removable media which... |
| V-1150 | Low | The built-in Microsoft password complexity filter will be enabled. | The use of complex passwords increases their strength against guessing. This policy setting configures the system to verify that newly-created passwords conform to the Windows password complexity policy. |
| V-1151 | Low | The print driver installation privilege will be restricted to administrators. | 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. |
| V-1090 | Low | Caching of logon credentials must be limited. | 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... |
| V-3373 | Low | The maximum age for machine account passwords will be set to requirements. | 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. |
| V-15686 | Low | Non-administrators will be prevented from applying vendor signed updates. | This check verifies that users are prevented from applying vendor signed updates. |
| V-15687 | Low | Users will not be presented with Privacy and Installation options on first use of Windows Media Player. | This check verifies that users are not presented with Privacy and Installation options on first use of Windows Media Player. |
| V-21969 | Low | Access to Windows Online Troubleshooting Service (WOTS) will be prevented. | This setting prevents users from searching troubleshooting content on Microsoft servers. Only local content will be available. |
| V-1112 | Low | Outdated or unused accounts must be removed from the system or disabled. | Outdated or unused accounts provide penetration points that may go undetected. |
| V-15718 | Low | Windows Explorer heap termination on corruption will be disabled. | This check verifies that heap termination on corruption is disabled. This may prevent Windows Explorer from terminating immediately from certain legacy plug-in applications. |
| V-26475 | Low | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Bypass traverse checking user right. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Bypass traverse checking" user right can pass through folders when... |
| V-1136 | Low | Users will be forcibly disconnected when their logon hours expire. | 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... |
| V-1135 | Low | Non-administrative user accounts or groups will only have print permissions of Printer Shares. | 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... |
| V-1172 | Low | Users will be warned in advance that their passwords will expire. | 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... |
| V-15672 | Low | Event Viewer Events.asp links will be turned off. | This check verifies that Events.asp hyperlinks in Event Viewer are turned off. |
| V-15671 | Low | Root Certificates will not be updated automatically from the Microsoft site. | This check verifies that Root Certificates will not be updated automatically from the Microsoft site. |
| V-4445 | Low | Optional Subsystems will not be permitted to operate on the system. | 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... |
| V-4438 | Low | The system must limit how many times unacknowledged TCP data is retransmitted. | 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... |
| V-15719 | Low | Users must be notified if the logon server was inaccessible and cached credentials were used. | Notifying a user whether cached credentials were used may make them aware of connection issues. |
| V-4111 | Low | The system will be configured to prevent ICMP redirects from overriding OSPF generated routes. | When disabled, forces ICMP to be routed via shortest path first. |
| V-1128 | Low | Security configuration tools or equivalent processes will be used to configure platforms for security compliance. | 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... |
| V-21974 | Low | Downloading of game update information will be turned off. | This setting will prevent the system from downloading game update information from Windows Metadata Services. |
| V-21971 | Low | The Application Compatibility Program Inventory will be prevented from collecting data and sending the information to Microsoft. | This setting will prevent the Program Inventory from collecting data about a system and sending the information to Microsoft. |
| V-21970 | Low | Responsiveness events will be prevented from being aggregated and sent to Microsoft. | This setting prevents responsiveness events from being aggregated and sent to Microsoft. |
| V-21978 | Low | Windows Anytime Upgrade will be disabled. | This setting will prevent Windows Anytime Upgrade from running. |
| V-45589 | Low | A group must be defined on domain systems to include all local administrator accounts. | Several user rights on domain systems require that local administrator accounts be assigned to them. This is separate from the built-in Administrators group, which also contains domain... |
| V-15709 | Low | Game explorer information will not be downloaded from Windows Metadata Services. | This check verifies that game information is not downloaded from Windows Metadata Services. |
| V-15680 | Low | The classic logon screen must be required for user logons. | 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... |
| V-4113 | Low | The system will be configured to limit how often keep-alive packets are sent. | Controls how often TCP sends a keep-alive packet in attempting to verify that an idle connection is still intact. |
| V-4112 | Low | The system will be configured to disable the Internet Router Discover Protocol (IRDP). | Enables or disables the Internet Router Discovery Protocol (IRDP) used to detect and configure Default Gateway addresses on the computer. |
| V-4116 | Low | The system must be configured to ignore NetBIOS name release requests except from WINS servers. | 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... |
| V-4442 | Low | The system will be configured to have password protection take effect within a limited time frame when the screen saver becomes active. | 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... |
| V-21964 | Low | Device metadata retrieval from the Internet must be prevented. | 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... |
| V-21965 | Low | Device driver searches using Windows Update will be prevented. | This setting will prevent the system from searching Windows Update for device drivers. |
| V-21967 | Low | Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) interactive communication with Microsoft will be prevented. | This setting prevents the MSDT from communicating with and sending collected data to Microsoft, the default support provider. |
| V-21960 | Low | Domain users will be required to elevate when setting a network’s location. | This policy requires domain users to elevate when setting a network’s location. |
| V-21961 | Low | All Direct Access traffic will be routed through the internal network. | This setting ensures all traffic is routed through the internal network, allowing monitoring and preventing split tunneling. |
| V-21963 | Low | Windows Update will be prevented from searching for point and print drivers. | 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. |
| V-4108 | Low | The system must generate an audit event when the audit log reaches a percentage of full threshold. | 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... |
| V-28504 | Low | Windows will be prevented from sending an error report when a device driver requests additional software during installation. | Sending error reports to vendors can disclose information about a system to an outside organization. |
| V-15703 | Low | Users will not be prompted to search Windows Update for device drivers. | This check verifies that users will not be prompted to search Windows Update for device drivers. |
| V-15702 | Low | An Error Report will not be sent when a generic device driver is installed. | This check verifies that an Error Report will not be sent when a generic device driver is installed. |
| V-15701 | Low | A system restore point will be created when a new device driver is installed. | This check verifies that a system restore point will be created when a new device driver is installed. |
| V-15707 | Low | Remote Assistance log files will be generated. | This check verifies that Remote Assistance log files will be generated. |
| V-15704 | Low | Errors in handwriting recognition on Tablet PCs will not be reported to Microsoft. | This check verifies that errors in handwriting recognition on Tablet PCs are not reported to Microsoft. |
| V-1174 | Low | The amount of idle time required before suspending a session must be properly set. | 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... |
| V-21955 | Low | IPv6 source routing will be configured to highest protection. | This check verifies Windows is configured to protect against IPv6 packet spoofing. |
| V-21956 | Low | IPv6 TCP data retransmissions must be configured to prevent resources from becoming exhausted. | 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. |
| V-14232 | Low | IPSec Exemptions will be limited. | This check verifies that Windows is configured to limit IPSec exemptions. |
