Group Policies must be refreshed in the background if the user is logged on.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-3469	WINCC-000029	SV-51981r1_rule	ECSC-1	Medium

Description
If this setting is enabled, then Group Policy settings are not refreshed while a user is currently logged on. This could lead to instances when a user does not have the latest changes to a policy applied and is therefore operating in an insecure context.

STIG	Date
Windows Vista Security Technical Implementation Guide	2013-10-01

Details

Check Text ( C-46894r2_chk )
Review the registry. If the following registry value does not exist, this is not a finding (this is the expected result from configuring the policy as outlined in the Fix section). If the following registry value exists but is not configured as specified, this is a finding. Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Subkey: \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system\ Value Name: DisableBkGndGroupPolicy Type: REG_DWORD Value: 0

Check Text ( C-46894r2_chk )

Review the registry.
If the following registry value does not exist, this is not a finding (this is the expected result from configuring the policy as outlined in the Fix section).
If the following registry value exists but is not configured as specified, this is a finding.

Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Subkey: \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system\

Value Name: DisableBkGndGroupPolicy

Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0

Fix Text (F-45015r1_fix)
Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Group Policy -> "Turn off background refresh of Group Policy" to "Disabled".