| V-1073 | High | Systems must be maintained at a supported service pack level. | Systems at unsupported service packs or releases will not receive security updates for new vulnerabilities, which leaves them subject to exploitation. Systems must be maintained at a service pack... |
| V-34974 | High | The Windows Installer Always install with elevated privileges option 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-1081 | High | Local volumes must be formatted using NTFS. | The ability to set access permissions and auditing is critical to maintaining the security and proper access controls of a system. To support this, volumes must be formatted using the NTFS file system. |
| V-6834 | High | Anonymous access to Named Pipes and Shares must be restricted. | Allowing anonymous access to named pipes or shares provides the potential for unauthorized system access. This setting restricts access to those defined in "Network access: Named Pipes that can... |
| V-1159 | High | The Recovery Console option must be set to prevent automatic logon to the system. | If this option is enabled, the Recovery Console does not require a password and automatically logs on to the system. This could allow unauthorized administrative access to the system. |
| V-1153 | High | The LanMan authentication level must be set to send NTLMv2 response only, and to refuse LM and NTLM. | The Kerberos v5 authentication protocol is the default for authentication of users who are logging on to domain accounts. NTLM, which is less secure, is retained in later Windows versions for... |
| V-2372 | High | Reversible password encryption must be disabled. | Storing passwords using reversible encryption is essentially the same as storing clear-text versions of the passwords. For this reason, this policy must never be enabled. |
| V-2374 | High | Autoplay must be disabled for all drives. | Allowing autoplay to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. Autoplay begins reading from a drive as soon media is inserted into the drive. As a result, the setup file of programs or... |
| V-1093 | High | Anonymous enumeration of shares must be restricted. | Allowing anonymous logon users (null session connections) to list all account names and enumerate all shared resources can provide a map of potential points to attack the system. |
| V-36718 | High | The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service must not use Basic authentication. | Basic authentication uses plain text passwords that could be used to compromise a system. |
| V-26283 | High | Anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts must not be allowed. | Anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts allows anonymous log on users (null session connections) to list all accounts names, thus providing a list of potential points to attack the system. |
| V-36712 | High | The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) client must not use Basic authentication. | Basic authentication uses plain text passwords that could be used to compromise a system. |
| V-3338 | High | Named pipes that can be accessed anonymously must be configured with limited values on domain controllers. | Named pipes that can be accessed anonymously provide the potential for gaining unauthorized system access. Pipes are internal system communications processes. They are identified internally by... |
| 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-22692 | High | The default autorun behavior must 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-21973 | High | Autoplay must be turned off for non-volume devices. | Allowing autoplay to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. Autoplay begins reading from a drive as soon as media is inserted into the drive. As a result, the setup file of programs... |
| 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-12780 | High | The Synchronize directory service data user right must be configured to include no accounts or groups (blank). | A Windows account with the "Synchronize directory service data" right has the ability to read all information in the AD database. This bypasses the object access permissions that would otherwise... |
| V-3343 | High | Solicited Remote Assistance must not be allowed. | Remote assistance allows another user to view or take control of the local session of a user. Solicited assistance is help that is specifically requested by the local user. This may allow... |
| V-3379 | High | The system must be configured to prevent the storage of the LAN Manager hash of passwords. | The LAN Manager hash uses a weak encryption algorithm and there are several tools available that use this hash to retrieve account passwords. This setting controls whether or not a LAN Manager... |
| V-3340 | High | Network shares that can be accessed anonymously must not be allowed. | Anonymous access to network shares provides the potential for gaining unauthorized system access by network users. This could lead to the exposure or corruption of sensitive data. |
| V-3344 | High | Local accounts with blank passwords must be restricted to prevent access from the network. | An account without a password can allow unauthorized access to a system as only the username would be required. Password policies should prevent accounts with blank passwords from existing on a... |
| 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-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-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 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-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 must be disabled. | IPv6 transition technologies, which tunnel packets through other protocols, do not provide visibility. |
| V-26577 | Medium | The ISATAP IPv6 transition technology must be disabled. | IPv6 transition technologies, which tunnel packets through other protocols, do not provide visibility. |
| V-26575 | Medium | The 6to4 IPv6 transition technology must be disabled. | IPv6 transition technologies, which tunnel packets through other protocols, do not provide visibility. |
| V-26486 | Medium | The Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services user right on domain controllers must be configured to prevent unauthenticated access. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services" user right defines the accounts that... |
| V-3383 | Medium | The system must 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 must be configured to the required LDAP client signing level. | This setting controls the signing requirements for LDAP clients. This setting must be set to Negotiate signing or Require signing, depending on the environment and type of LDAP server in use. |
| V-3380 | Medium | The system must be configured to force users to log off when their allowed logon hours expire. | Limiting logon hours can help protect data by only allowing access during specified times. This setting controls whether or not users are forced to log off when their allowed logon hours expire. ... |
| 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 must not be installed. | 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 | Group Policies must be refreshed in the background if the user is logged on. | 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 domain controllers. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Access this computer from the network" right may access resources... |
| V-15700 | Medium | Remote access to the Plug and Play interface must be disabled for device installation. | Remote access to the Plug and Play interface could potentially allow connections by unauthorized devices. This setting configures remote access to the Plug and Play interface and must be disabled. |
| V-15823 | Medium | Software certificate installation files must be removed from a system. | Use of software certificates and their accompanying installation files for end users to access resources is less secure than the use of hardware-based certificates. |
| V-15722 | Medium | Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) must be prevented from accessing the Internet. | 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-16000 | Medium | The system must be configured to ensure smart card devices can be redirected to the Remote Desktop session. (Remote Desktop Services Role). | Enabling the redirection of smart card devices allows their use within Remote Desktop sessions. |
| V-16008 | Medium | Windows must elevate all applications in User Account Control, not just signed ones. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures whether Windows elevates... |
| 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-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 nonsystem processes... |
| V-26483 | Medium | The Deny log on as a batch job user right on domain controllers must be configured to prevent unauthenticated access. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on as a batch job" user right defines accounts that are prevented from... |
| 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-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 must 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, outgoing... |
| V-1166 | Medium | The Windows SMB client must be enabled to perform SMB packet signing when possible. | The server message block (SMB) protocol provides the basis for many network operations. If this policy is enabled, the SMB client will request packet signing when communicating with an SMB... |
| V-3378 | Medium | The system must 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 must 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 must perform SMB packet signing when possible. | The server message block (SMB) protocol provides the basis for many network operations. Digitally signed SMB packets aid in preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. If this policy is enabled, the... |
| V-3471 | Medium | The system must be configured to prevent automatic forwarding of error information. | This setting controls the reporting of errors to Microsoft and, if defined, a corporate error reporting site. This does not interfere with the reporting of errors to the local user. Since the... |
| V-3470 | Medium | The system must be configured to prevent unsolicited remote assistance offers. | Remote assistance allows another user to view or take control of the local session of a user. Unsolicited remote assistance is help that is offered by the remote user. This may allow... |
| 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-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-36708 | Medium | The location feature must be turned off. | The location service on systems may allow sensitive data to be used by applications on the system. This should be turned off unless explicitly allowed for approved systems/applications. |
| 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-3479 | Medium | The system must 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 system's path... |
| V-36700 | Medium | The password reveal button must not be displayed. | Visible passwords may be seen by nearby persons, compromising them. The password reveal button can be used to display an entered password and must not be allowed. |
| V-14243 | Medium | The system must require username and password to elevate a running application. | Enumeration of administrator accounts when elevating can provide part of the logon information to an unauthorized user. This setting configures the system to always require users to type in a... |
| V-14242 | Medium | User Account Control must virtualize file and registry write failures to per-user locations. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures non-UAC-compliant... |
| V-26578 | Medium | The Teredo IPv6 transition technology must be disabled. | IPv6 transition technologies, which tunnel packets through other protocols, do not provide visibility. |
| 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 and require frequent clearing 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 and require frequent clearing 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 and require frequent clearing by administrative personnel. |
| V-30016 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Add workstations to domain user right. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
Accounts with the "Add workstations to domain" right may add computers to a domain. ... |
| V-15697 | Medium | The Responder network protocol driver must be disabled. | The Responder network protocol driver allows a computer to be discovered and located on a network. Disabling this helps protect the system from potentially being discovered and connected to by... |
| V-3449 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services must limit users to one remote session. | Allowing multiple Remote Desktop Services sessions could consume resources. There is also potential to make a secondary connection to a system with compromised credentials. |
| V-6836 | Medium | Passwords must, 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-6832 | Medium | The Windows SMB client must be configured to always perform SMB packet signing. | The server message block (SMB) protocol provides the basis for many network operations. Digitally signed SMB packets aid in preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. If this policy is enabled, the... |
| V-6833 | Medium | The Windows SMB server must be configured to always perform SMB packet signing. | The server message block (SMB) protocol provides the basis for many network operations. Digitally signed SMB packets aid in preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. If this policy is enabled, the... |
| V-6831 | Medium | Outgoing secure channel traffic must 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-14261 | Medium | Windows must be prevented from using Windows Update to search for drivers. | 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-14260 | Medium | Downloading print driver packages over HTTP 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-1154 | Medium | The Ctrl+Alt+Del security attention sequence for logons must 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, a user can be assured that any... |
| V-1155 | Medium | The Deny access to this computer from the network user right on domain controllers must be configured to prevent unauthenticated access. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny access to this computer from the network" user right defines the accounts... |
| V-1157 | Medium | The Smart Card removal option must be configured to Force Logoff or Lock Workstation. | Unattended systems are susceptible to unauthorized use and must be locked. Configuring a system to lock when a smart card is removed will ensure the system is inaccessible when unattended. |
| V-1099 | Medium | The 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 bad logon counter is reset must meet minimum requirements. | 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-2377 | Medium | The Kerberos service ticket maximum lifetime must be limited to 600 minutes or less. | This setting determines the maximum amount of time (in minutes) that a granted session ticket can be used to access a particular service. Session tickets are used only to authenticate new... |
| V-2376 | Medium | Kerberos user logon restrictions must be enforced. | This policy setting determines whether the Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) validates every request for a session ticket against the user rights policy of the target computer. The policy is... |
| V-2379 | Medium | The Kerberos policy user ticket renewal maximum lifetime must be limited to 7 days or less. | This setting determines the period of time (in days) during which a user's TGT may be renewed. This security configuration limits the amount of time an attacker has to crack the TGT and gain access. |
| V-1097 | Medium | The number of allowed bad logon attempts must meet minimum requirements. | 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 must be configured to meet the minimum session security requirement for NTLM SSP-based clients. | Microsoft has implemented a variety of security support providers for use with RPC sessions. All of the options must be enabled to ensure the maximum security level. |
| V-15991 | Medium | UIAccess applications must not be allowed to prompt for elevation without using the secure desktop. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting prevents User Interface... |
| V-3376 | Medium | The system must 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 must not be stored on the local machine, as that may lead to... |
| V-15997 | Medium | Users must be prevented from mapping local COM ports and redirecting data from the Remote Desktop Session Host to local COM ports. (Remote Desktop Services Role). | Preventing the redirection of Remote Desktop session data to a client computer's COM ports helps reduce possible exposure of sensitive data. |
| V-3374 | Medium | The system must be configured to require a strong session key. | A computer connecting to a domain controller will establish a secure channel. Requiring strong session keys enforces 128-bit encryption between systems. |
| V-15998 | Medium | Users must be prevented from mapping local LPT ports and redirecting data from the Remote Desktop Session Host to local LPT ports. (Remote Desktop Services Role). | Preventing the redirection of Remote Desktop session data to a client computer's LPT ports helps reduce possible exposure of sensitive data. |
| V-15999 | Medium | Users must be prevented from redirecting Plug and Play devices to the Remote Desktop Session Host. (Remote Desktop Services Role). | Preventing the redirection of Plug and Play devices in Remote Desktop sessions helps reduce possible exposure of sensitive data. |
| 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 | File Explorer shell protocol must run in protected mode. | The shell protocol will limit the set of folders applications can open when run in protected mode. Restricting files an application can open to a limited set of folders increases the security of Windows. |
| 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 a third-party SMB Server. | 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 must be prevented from changing installation options. | Installation options for applications are typically controlled by administrators. This setting prevents users from changing installation options that may bypass security features. |
| V-1171 | Medium | Ejection of removable NTFS media must be restricted to Administrators. | Removable hard drives, if they are not properly configured, can be formatted and ejected by users who are not members of the Administrators Group. Formatting and ejecting removable NTFS media... |
| V-26529 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-36720 | Medium | The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service must not store RunAs credentials. | Storage of administrative credentials could allow unauthorized access. Disallowing the storage of RunAs credentials for Windows Remote Management will prevent them from being used with plug-ins. |
| V-36684 | Medium | Local users on domain-joined computers must not be enumerated. | The username is one part of logon credentials that could be used to gain access to a system. Preventing the enumeration of users limits this information to authorized personnel. |
| V-36687 | Medium | App notifications on the lock screen must be turned off. | App notifications that are displayed on the lock screen could display sensitive information to unauthorized personnel. Turning off this feature will limit access to the information to a logged on user. |
| V-36681 | Medium | Copying of user input methods to the system account for sign-in must be prevented. | Allowing different input methods for sign-in could open different avenues of attack. User input methods must be restricted to those enabled for the system account at sign-in. |
| V-36680 | Medium | Access to the Windows Store must be turned off. | Uncontrolled installation of applications can introduce various issues, including system instability, and allow access to sensitive information. Installation of applications must be controlled by... |
| V-3458 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services must 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 must disconnect if they plan on being away from their terminals for extended... |
| V-36719 | Medium | The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service must not allow unencrypted traffic. | Unencrypted remote access to a system can allow sensitive information to be compromised. Windows remote management connections must be encrypted to prevent this. |
| V-14239 | Medium | User Account Control must only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures Windows to only allow... |
| V-3453 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services must 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 connection. Disabling this setting would allow anyone to use the stored credentials in... |
| V-3457 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services must 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 use system resources and must be terminated as soon as possible. |
| V-3456 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services must delete temporary folders when a session is terminated. | Remote desktop session temporary folders must always be deleted after a session is over to prevent hard disk clutter and potential leakage of information. This setting controls the deletion of... |
| V-3455 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services must be configured to use session-specific temporary folders. | If a communal temporary folder is used for remote desktop sessions, it might be possible for users to access other users' temporary folders. If this setting is enabled, only one temporary folder... |
| V-3454 | Medium | Remote Desktop Services must 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 must be disabled if installed. | Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption. |
| V-4407 | Medium | Domain controllers must require LDAP access signing. | Unsigned network traffic is susceptible to man in the middle attacks where an intruder captures packets between the server and the client and modifies them before forwarding them to the client. ... |
| 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-26604 | Medium | The Peer Networking Identity Manager service must be disabled if installed. | 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 must be turned off. | 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-14241 | Medium | User Account Control must switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting ensures that the elevation prompt... |
| V-14240 | Medium | User Account Control must run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode, enabling UAC. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting enables UAC. |
| V-26538 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26539 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26606 | Medium | The Telnet service must be disabled if installed. | Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption. |
| V-14247 | Medium | Passwords must not be saved in the Remote Desktop Client. | Saving passwords in the Remote Desktop Client could allow an unauthorized user to establish a remote desktop session to another system. The system must be configured to prevent users from saving... |
| V-14249 | Medium | Local drives must be prevented from sharing with Remote Desktop Session Hosts. (Remote Desktop Services Role). | Preventing users from sharing the local drives on their client computers to Remote Session Hosts that they access helps reduce possible exposure of sensitive data. |
| V-26533 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26530 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26536 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26605 | Medium | The Simple TCP/IP Services service must be disabled if installed. | Unnecessary services increase the attack surface of a system. Some of these services may not support required levels of authentication or encryption. |
| V-26534 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26535 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-33664 | Medium | The system must be configured to audit DS Access - Directory Service Access 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-33665 | Medium | The system must be configured to audit DS Access - Directory Service Changes 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-33666 | Medium | The system must be configured to audit DS Access - Directory Service Changes 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-33663 | Medium | The system must be configured to audit DS Access - Directory Service Access 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-26540 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-3377 | Medium | The system must be configured to prevent anonymous users from having the same rights as the Everyone group. | Access by anonymous users must be restricted. If this setting is enabled, then anonymous users have the same rights and permissions as the built-in Everyone group. Anonymous users must not have... |
| V-3480 | Medium | Windows 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-36714 | Medium | The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) client must not use Digest authentication. | Digest authentication is not as strong as other options and may be subject to man-in-the-middle attacks. |
| V-15699 | Medium | The Windows Connect Now wizards must be disabled. | Windows Connect Now provides wizards for tasks such as "Set up a wireless router or access point" and must not be available to users. Functions such as these may allow unauthorized connections to... |
| V-15666 | Medium | Windows Peer-to-Peer networking services must be turned off. | Peer-to-Peer applications can allow unauthorized access to a system and exposure of sensitive data. This setting will turn off the Microsoft Peer-to-Peer Networking Service. |
| V-15667 | Medium | Network Bridges must be prohibited in Windows. | A Network Bridge can connect two or more network segments, allowing unauthorized access or exposure of sensitive data. This setting prevents a Network Bridge from being installed and configured. |
| V-26532 | Medium | The system must be configured to audit Account Logon - 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 detect attacks. ... |
| 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-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 must be notified if a web-based program attempts to install software. | Users must be aware of attempted program installations. This setting ensures users are notified if a web-based program attempts to install software. |
| V-14230 | Medium | Audit policy using subcategories must be enabled. | 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-26549 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26548 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26547 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26546 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26545 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26544 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26543 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26542 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26541 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-36709 | Medium | Basic authentication for RSS feeds over HTTP must be turned off. | Basic authentication uses plain text passwords that could be used to compromise a system. |
| V-14228 | Medium | Auditing the Access of Global System Objects must be turned off. | 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-15696 | Medium | The Mapper I/O network protocol (LLTDIO) driver must be disabled. | The Mapper I/O network protocol (LLTDIO) driver allows the discovery of the connected network and allows various options to be enabled. Disabling this helps protect the system from potentially... |
| V-21980 | Medium | Explorer Data Execution Prevention must be enabled. | Data Execution Prevention (DEP) provides additional protection by performing checks on memory to help prevent malicious code from running. This setting will prevent Data Execution Prevention... |
| V-36713 | Medium | The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) client must not allow unencrypted traffic. | Unencrypted remote access to a system can allow sensitive information to be compromised. Windows remote management connections must be encrypted to prevent this. |
| V-36698 | Medium | The use of biometrics must be disabled. | Allowing biometrics may bypass required authentication methods. Biometrics may only be used as an additional authentication factor where an enhanced strength of identity credential is necessary... |
| 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-2380 | Medium | The computer clock synchronization tolerance must be limited to 5 minutes or less. | This setting determines the maximum time difference (in minutes) that Kerberos will tolerate between the time on a client's clock and the time on a server's clock while still considering the two... |
| V-4448 | Medium | Group Policy objects must 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-4447 | Medium | The Remote Desktop Session Host must require secure RPC communications. | Allowing unsecure RPC communication exposes the system 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 must be enforced. | Software restriction policies help to protect users and computers from executing unauthorized code such as viruses and Trojans horses. This setting must be enabled to enforce certificate rules in... |
| V-14229 | Medium | Auditing of Backup and Restore Privileges must be turned off. | 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-36773 | Medium | The machine inactivity limit must be set to 15 minutes, locking the system with the screensaver. | Unattended systems are susceptible to unauthorized use and should be locked when unattended. The screen saver should be set at a maximum of 15 minutes and be password protected. This protects... |
| 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-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-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-26531 | Medium | The system must be configured to audit Account Logon - 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26556 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26557 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26550 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26551 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26552 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26553 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-15706 | Medium | The user must be prompted to authenticate on resume from sleep (plugged in). | Authentication must always be required when accessing a system. This setting ensures the user is prompted for a password on resume from sleep (plugged in). |
| V-15705 | Medium | Users must be prompted to authenticate on resume from sleep (on battery). | Authentication must always be required when accessing a system. This setting ensures the user is prompted for a password on resume from sleep (on battery). |
| V-40206 | Medium | The Smart Card Removal Policy service must be configured to automatic. | The automatic start of the Smart Card Removal Policy service is required to support the smart card removal behavior requirement. |
| V-36679 | Medium | Early Launch Antimalware, Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy must be enabled and configured to only Good and Unknown. | Compromised boot drivers can introduce malware prior to some protection mechanisms that load after initialization. The Early Launch Antimalware driver can limit allowed drivers based on... |
| V-3666 | Medium | The system must be configured to meet the minimum session security requirement for NTLM SSP-based servers. | Microsoft has implemented a variety of security support providers for use with RPC sessions. All of the options must be enabled to ensure the maximum security level. |
| V-16020 | Medium | The Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program must be disabled. | 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-1107 | Medium | The password uniqueness must meet minimum requirements. | A system is more vulnerable to unauthorized access when system users recycle the same password several times without being required to change to a unique password on a regularly scheduled basis. ... |
| V-1105 | Medium | The minimum password age must meet requirements. | 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 meet requirements. | The longer a password is in use, the greater the opportunity for someone to gain unauthorized knowledge of the passwords. Scheduled changing of passwords hinders the ability of unauthorized... |
| V-21951 | Medium | Services using Local System that use Negotiate when reverting to NTLM authentication must use the computer identity vs. authenticating anonymously. | Services using Local System that use Negotiate when reverting to NTLM authentication may gain unauthorized access if allowed to authenticate anonymously vs. using the computer identity. |
| V-21950 | Medium | The service principal name (SPN) target name validation level must be turned off. | If a service principle name (SPN) is provided by the client, it is validated against the server's list of SPNs. Implementation may disrupt file and print sharing capabilities. |
| V-21953 | Medium | PKU2U authentication using online identities must be prevented. | PKU2U is a peer-to-peer authentication protocol. This setting prevents online identities from authenticating to domain-joined systems. Authentication will be centrally managed with Windows user... |
| V-21952 | Medium | NTLM must be prevented from falling back to a Null session. | NTLM sessions that are allowed to fall back to Null (unauthenticated) sessions may gain unauthorized access. |
| 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 and require frequent clearing by administrative personnel. |
| V-26558 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-14234 | Medium | User Account Control approval mode for the built-in Administrator must be enabled. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures the built-in... |
| V-14235 | Medium | User Account Control must, at minimum, prompt administrators for consent. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures the elevation... |
| V-14236 | Medium | User Account Control must automatically deny standard user requests for elevation. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting controls the behavior of elevation... |
| V-14237 | Medium | User Account Control must be configured to detect application installations and prompt for elevation. | User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting requires Windows to respond to... |
| 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" user right can create pointers to other... |
| V-15698 | Medium | The configuration of wireless devices using Windows Connect Now must be disabled. | Windows Connect Now allows the discovery and configuration of devices over wireless. Wireless devices must be managed. If a rogue device is connected to a system, there is potential for... |
| 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-26537 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-26487 | Medium | Unauthorized accounts must not have the Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation user right on domain controllers. | 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-26484 | Medium | The Deny log on as a service user right must be configured to include no accounts or groups (blank) on domain controllers. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on as a service" user right defines accounts that are denied log on as a... |
| V-26485 | Medium | The Deny log on locally user right on domain controllers must be configured to prevent unauthenticated access. | Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities.
The "Deny log on locally" user right defines accounts that are prevented from logging... |
| V-2378 | Medium | The Kerberos user ticket lifetime must be limited to 10 hours or less. | In Kerberos, there are 2 types of tickets: Ticket Granting Tickets (TGTs) and Service Tickets. Kerberos tickets have a limited lifetime so the time an attacker has to implement an attack is... |
| 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-26554 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-15713 | Medium | Microsoft Active Protection Service membership must be disabled. | 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-26555 | Medium | The system must 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 detect attacks. ... |
| V-1075 | Low | The shutdown option must 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-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-1173 | Low | The default permissions of global system objects must be increased. | Windows systems maintain 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" user right can change the time zone of a system. |
| V-16005 | Low | The system must be configured to remove the Disconnect option from the Shut Down dialog box on the Remote Desktop Client. (Remote Desktop Services Role). | Removing the Disconnect option from the Shut Down dialog box for Remote Desktop sessions helps prevent disconnected but active sessions from continuing to run and using resources. |
| V-15701 | Low | A system restore point must be created when a new device driver is installed. | A system restore point allows a rollback if an issue is encountered when a new device driver is installed. |
| V-15704 | Low | Errors in handwriting recognition on tablet PCs must not be reported to Microsoft. | 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-1165 | Low | The computer account password must not be prevented from being reset. | Computer account passwords are changed automatically on a regular basis. Disabling automatic password changes can make the system more vulnerable to malicious access. Frequent password changes... |
| V-36690 | Low | The display must turn off after 20 minutes of inactivity when the system is running on battery. | Turning off an inactive display supports energy saving initiatives. It may also extend availability on systems running on a battery. |
| V-36707 | Low | The Windows SmartScreen must be turned off. | Some features may send system information to the vendor. Turning off this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise. |
| V-11806 | Low | The system must be configured to prevent the display of the last username on the logon screen. | Displaying the username of the last logged on user provides half of the userid/password equation that an unauthorized person would need to gain access. The username of the last user to log on to... |
| 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 must be enabled. | The use of complex passwords increases their strength against guessing and brute-force attacks. This setting configures the system to verify that newly created passwords conform to the Windows... |
| V-1151 | Low | The print driver installation privilege must 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 administrators. |
| 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 must be set to requirements. | Computer account passwords are changed automatically on a regular basis. This setting controls the maximum password age that a machine account may have. This setting must be set to no more than... |
| V-26359 | Low | The Windows dialog box title for the legal banner must 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-15686 | Low | Nonadministrators must be prevented from applying vendor-signed updates. | Uncontrolled system updates can introduce issues to a system. This setting will prevent users from applying vendor-signed updates (though they may be from a trusted source). |
| V-15687 | Low | Users must not be presented with Privacy and Installation options on first use of Windows Media Player. | 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-4408 | Low | Domain controllers must be configured to allow reset of machine account passwords. | Enabling this setting on all domain controllers in a domain prevents domain members from changing their computer account passwords. If these passwords are weak or compromised, the inability to... |
| 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 must be forcibly disconnected when their logon hours expire. | Users must not be permitted to remain logged on to the network after they have exceeded their permitted logon hours. In many cases, this indicates that a user forgot to log off before leaving for... |
| V-15672 | Low | Event Viewer Events.asp links must be turned off. | Viewing events is a function of administrators, who must not access the internet with privileged accounts. This setting will disable Events.asp hyperlinks in Event Viewer to prevent links to the... |
| V-15671 | Low | Root Certificates must not be updated automatically from the Microsoft site. | Root Certificate updates must be controlled in the enterprise to ensure a proper validation chain is maintained. This setting prevents root certificates from being updated automatically from the... |
| 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-36691 | Low | The display must turn off after 20 minutes of inactivity when the system is plugged in. | Turning off an inactive display supports energy saving initiatives. |
| 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 is no longer able to... |
| V-4111 | Low | The system must be configured to prevent Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) redirects from overriding Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) generated routes. | Allowing ICMP redirect of routes can lead to traffic not being routed properly. When disabled, this forces ICMP to be routed via shortest path first. |
| V-4110 | Low | The system must be configured to prevent IP source routing. | Configuring the system to disable IP source routing protects against spoofing. |
| V-4108 | Low | The system must generate an audit event when the audit log reaches a percentage of full threshold. | When the audit log reaches a given percent full, an audit event is written to the security log. It is recorded as a successful audit event under the category of System. This option may be... |
| V-21971 | Low | The Application Compatibility Program Inventory must be prevented from collecting data and sending the information to Microsoft. | 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-21970 | Low | Responsiveness events must be prevented from being aggregated and sent to Microsoft. | 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-36696 | Low | The detection of compatibility issues for applications and drivers must be turned off. | 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-4445 | Low | Optional Subsystems must 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-4112 | Low | The system must be configured to disable the Internet Router Discovery Protocol (IRDP). | The Internet Router Discovery Protocol (IRDP) is used to detect and configure default gateway addresses on the computer. If a router is impersonated on a network, traffic could be routed through... |
| 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 must be configured to have password protection take effect within a limited time frame when the screen saver becomes active. | Allowing more than several seconds makes the computer vulnerable to a potential attack from someone walking up to the console to attempt to log on to the system before the lock takes effect. |
| 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 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-21967 | Low | Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) interactive communication with Microsoft 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-21960 | Low | Domain users must be required to elevate when setting a networks location. | Selecting an incorrect network location may allow greater exposure of a system. Elevation is required by default on nondomain systems to change network location. This setting configures... |
| V-21961 | Low | All Direct Access traffic must be routed through the internal network. | Routing all Direct Access traffic through the internal network allows monitoring and prevents split tunneling. |
| V-21963 | Low | Windows Update must be prevented from searching for point and print drivers. | 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-21969 | Low | Access to Windows Online Troubleshooting Service (WOTS) 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-28504 | Low | Windows must be prevented from sending an error report when a device driver requests additional software during installation. | 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-15703 | Low | Users must not be prompted to search Windows Update for device drivers. | 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-15702 | Low | An Error Report must not be sent when a generic device driver is installed. | 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-4113 | Low | The system must be configured to limit how often keep-alive packets are sent. | This setting controls how often TCP sends a keep-alive packet in attempting to verify that an idle connection is still intact. A higher value could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service... |
| V-36677 | Low | Optional component installation and component repair must be prevented from using Windows Update. | Uncontrolled system updates can introduce issues to a system. Obtaining update components from an outside source may also potentially provide sensitive information outside of the enterprise. ... |
| V-15707 | Low | Remote Assistance log files must be generated. | 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-36673 | Low | IP stateless autoconfiguration limits state must be enabled. | IP stateless autoconfiguration could configure routes that circumvent preferred routes if not limited. |
| V-36678 | Low | Device driver updates must only search managed servers, not Windows Update. | Uncontrolled system updates can introduce issues to a system. Obtaining update components from an outside source may also potentially provide sensitive information outside of the enterprise. ... |
| V-15717 | Low | Additional data requests in response to Error Reporting must be declined. | 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-21955 | Low | IPv6 source routing must be configured to the highest protection level. | Configuring the system to disable IPv6 source routing protects against 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 must be limited. | IPSec exemption filters allow specific traffic that may be needed by the system for such things as Kerberos authentication. This setting configures Windows for specific IPSec exemptions. |
| V-36697 | Low | Trusted app installation must be enabled to allow for signed enterprise line of business apps. | Enabling trusted app installation allows for enterprise line of business Windows 8 type apps. A trusted app package is one that is signed with a certificate chain that can be successfully... |
| V-15714 | Low | Error Reporting events must be logged in 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-15718 | Low | Turning off File Explorer heap termination on corruption must be disabled. | Legacy plug-in applications may continue to function when a File Explorer session has become corrupt. Disabling this feature will prevent this. |
| 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-1172 | Low | Users must be warned in advance of their passwords expiring. | Creating strong passwords that can be remembered by users requires some thought. By giving the user advance warning, the user has time to construct a sufficiently strong password. This setting... |
