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XCCDF
Microsoft Windows 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide
Profiles
I - Mission Critical Sensitive
I - Mission Critical Sensitive
An XCCDF Profile
Details
Items
Prose
261 rules organized in 261 groups
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Domain-joined systems must use Windows 10 Enterprise Edition 64-bit version.
Medium Severity
Features such as Credential Guard use virtualization-based security to protect information that could be used in credential theft attacks if compromised. A number of system requirements must be met for Credential Guard to be configured and enabled properly. Virtualization-based security and Credential Guard are only available with Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit version.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows 10 domain-joined systems must have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) enabled and ready for use.
Medium Severity
Credential Guard uses virtualization-based security to protect information that could be used in credential theft attacks if compromised. A number of system requirements must be met for Credential Guard to be configured and enabled properly. Without a TPM enabled and ready for use, Credential Guard keys are stored in a less secure method using software.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows 10 systems must have Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware and be configured to run in UEFI mode, not Legacy BIOS.
Medium Severity
UEFI provides additional security features in comparison to legacy BIOS firmware, including Secure Boot. UEFI is required to support additional security features in Windows 10, including Virtualization Based Security and Credential Guard. Systems with UEFI that are operating in Legacy BIOS mode will not support these security features.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Secure Boot must be enabled on Windows 10 systems.
Low Severity
Secure Boot is a standard that ensures systems boot only to a trusted operating system. Secure Boot is required to support additional security features in Windows 10, including Virtualization Based Security and Credential Guard. If Secure Boot is turned off, these security features will not function.
SRG-OS-000191-GPOS-00080
1 Rule
Windows 10 must employ automated mechanisms to determine the state of system components with regard to flaw remediation using the following frequency: Continuously, where ESS is used; 30 days, for any additional internal network scans not covered by ESS; and annually, for external scans by Computer Network Defense Service Provider (CNDSP).
Medium Severity
An approved tool for continuous network scanning must be installed and configured to run. Without the use of automated mechanisms to scan for security flaws on a continuous and/or periodic basis, the operating system or other system components may remain vulnerable to the exploits presented by undetected software flaws. To support this requirement, the operating system may have an integrated solution incorporating continuous scanning using ESS and periodic scanning using other tools, as specified in the requirement.
SRG-OS-000185-GPOS-00079
1 Rule
Windows 10 information systems must use BitLocker to encrypt all disks to protect the confidentiality and integrity of all information at rest.
High Severity
If data at rest is unencrypted, it is vulnerable to disclosure. Even if the operating system enforces permissions on data access, an adversary can remove non-volatile memory and read it directly, thereby circumventing operating system controls. Encrypting the data ensures that confidentiality is protected even when the operating system is not running.
SRG-OS-000185-GPOS-00079
1 Rule
Windows 10 systems must use a BitLocker PIN for pre-boot authentication.
High Severity
If data at rest is unencrypted, it is vulnerable to disclosure. Even if the operating system enforces permissions on data access, an adversary can remove non-volatile memory and read it directly, thereby circumventing operating system controls. Encrypting the data ensures that confidentiality is protected even when the operating system is not running. Pre-boot authentication prevents unauthorized users from accessing encrypted drives.
SRG-OS-000185-GPOS-00079
1 Rule
Windows 10 systems must use a BitLocker PIN with a minimum length of six digits for pre-boot authentication.
High Severity
If data at rest is unencrypted, it is vulnerable to disclosure. Even if the operating system enforces permissions on data access, an adversary can remove non-volatile memory and read it directly, thereby circumventing operating system controls. Encrypting the data ensures that confidentiality is protected even when the operating system is not running. Pre-boot authentication prevents unauthorized users from accessing encrypted drives. Increasing the PIN length requires a greater number of guesses for an attacker.
SRG-OS-000370-GPOS-00155
1 Rule
The operating system must employ a deny-all, permit-by-exception policy to allow the execution of authorized software programs.
Medium Severity
Utilizing an allowlist provides a configuration management method for allowing the execution of only authorized software. Using only authorized software decreases risk by limiting the number of potential vulnerabilities. The organization must identify authorized software programs and only permit execution of authorized software. The process used to identify software programs that are authorized to execute on organizational information systems is commonly referred to as allowlisting.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows 10 systems must be maintained at a supported servicing level.
High Severity
Windows 10 is maintained by Microsoft at servicing levels for specific periods of time to support Windows as a Service. Systems at unsupported servicing levels or releases will not receive security updates for new vulnerabilities, which leaves them subject to exploitation. New versions with feature updates are planned to be released on a semiannual basis with an estimated support timeframe of 18 to 30 months depending on the release. Support for previously released versions has been extended for Enterprise editions. A separate servicing branch intended for special-purpose systems is the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC, formerly Branch - LTSB), which will receive security updates for 10 years but excludes feature updates.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The Windows 10 system must use an anti-virus program.
High Severity
Malicious software can establish a base on individual desktops and servers. Employing an automated mechanism to detect this type of software will aid in elimination of the software from the operating system.
SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048
1 Rule
Local volumes must be formatted using NTFS.
High Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Alternate operating systems must not be permitted on the same system.
Medium Severity
Allowing other operating systems to run on a secure system may allow security to be circumvented.
SRG-OS-000138-GPOS-00069
1 Rule
Non system-created file shares on a system must limit access to groups that require it.
Medium Severity
Shares which provide network access, should not typically exist on a workstation except for system-created administrative shares, and could potentially expose sensitive information. If a share is necessary, share permissions, as well as NTFS permissions, must be reconfigured to give the minimum access to those accounts that require it.
SRG-OS-000118-GPOS-00060
1 Rule
Unused accounts must be disabled or removed from the system after 35 days of inactivity.
Low Severity
Outdated or unused accounts provide penetration points that may go undetected. Inactive accounts must be deleted if no longer necessary or, if still required, disabled until needed.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system.
High Severity
An account that does not have Administrator duties must not have Administrator rights. Such rights would allow the account to bypass or modify required security restrictions on that machine and make it vulnerable to attack. System administrators must log on to systems only using accounts with the minimum level of authority necessary. For domain-joined workstations, the Domain Admins group must be replaced by a domain workstation administrator group (see V-36434 in the Active Directory Domain STIG). Restricting highly privileged accounts from the local Administrators group helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation resulting from credential theft attacks. Standard user accounts must not be members of the local administrators group.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Only accounts responsible for the backup operations must be members of the Backup Operators group.
Medium Severity
Backup Operators are able to read and write to any file in the system, regardless of the rights assigned to it. Backup and restore rights permit users to circumvent the file access restrictions present on NTFS disk drives for backup and restore purposes. Members of the Backup Operators group must have separate logon accounts for performing backup duties.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Only authorized user accounts must be allowed to create or run virtual machines on Windows 10 systems.
Medium Severity
Allowing other operating systems to run on a secure system may allow users to circumvent security. For Hyper-V, preventing unauthorized users from being assigned to the Hyper-V Administrators group will prevent them from accessing or creating virtual machines on the system. The Hyper-V Hypervisor is used by Virtualization Based Security features such as Credential Guard on Windows 10; however, it is not the full Hyper-V installation.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Standard local user accounts must not exist on a system in a domain.
Low Severity
To minimize potential points of attack, local user accounts, other than built-in accounts and local administrator accounts, must not exist on a workstation in a domain. Users must log on to workstations in a domain with their domain accounts.
SRG-OS-000076-GPOS-00044
1 Rule
Accounts must be configured to require password expiration.
Medium Severity
Passwords that do not expire increase exposure with a greater probability of being discovered or cracked.
SRG-OS-000312-GPOS-00122
1 Rule
Permissions for system files and directories must conform to minimum requirements.
Medium Severity
Changing the system's file and directory permissions allows the possibility of unauthorized and anonymous modification to the operating system and installed applications.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Internet Information System (IIS) or its subcomponents must not be installed on a workstation.
High Severity
Installation of Internet Information System (IIS) may allow unauthorized internet services to be hosted. Websites must only be hosted on servers that have been designed for that purpose and can be adequately secured.
SRG-OS-000096-GPOS-00050
1 Rule
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) must not be installed on the system.
Medium Severity
Some protocols and services do not support required security features, such as encrypting passwords or traffic.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Simple TCP/IP Services must not be installed on the system.
Medium Severity
Some protocols and services do not support required security features, such as encrypting passwords or traffic.
SRG-OS-000096-GPOS-00050
1 Rule
The Telnet Client must not be installed on the system.
Medium Severity
Some protocols and services do not support required security features, such as encrypting passwords or traffic.
SRG-OS-000096-GPOS-00050
1 Rule
The TFTP Client must not be installed on the system.
Medium Severity
Some protocols and services do not support required security features, such as encrypting passwords or traffic.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Software certificate installation files must be removed from Windows 10.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
A host-based firewall must be installed and enabled on the system.
Medium Severity
A firewall provides a line of defense against attack, allowing or blocking inbound and outbound connections based on a set of rules.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Inbound exceptions to the firewall on Windows 10 domain workstations must only allow authorized remote management hosts.
Medium Severity
Allowing inbound access to domain workstations from other systems may allow lateral movement across systems if credentials are compromised. Limiting inbound connections only from authorized remote management systems will help limit this exposure.
SRG-OS-000433-GPOS-00192
1 Rule
Data Execution Prevention (DEP) must be configured to at least OptOut.
High Severity
Attackers are constantly looking for vulnerabilities in systems and applications. Data Execution Prevention (DEP) prevents harmful code from running in protected memory locations reserved for Windows and other programs.
SRG-OS-000433-GPOS-00192
1 Rule
Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection (SEHOP) must be enabled.
High Severity
Attackers are constantly looking for vulnerabilities in systems and applications. Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection (SEHOP) blocks exploits that use the Structured Exception Handling overwrite technique, a common buffer overflow attack.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The Windows PowerShell 2.0 feature must be disabled on the system.
Medium Severity
Windows PowerShell 5.0 added advanced logging features which can provide additional detail when malware has been run on a system. Disabling the Windows PowerShell 2.0 mitigates against a downgrade attack that evades the Windows PowerShell 5.0 script block logging feature.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The Server Message Block (SMB) v1 protocol must be disabled on the system.
Medium Severity
SMBv1 is a legacy protocol that uses the MD5 algorithm as part of SMB. MD5 is known to be vulnerable to a number of attacks such as collision and preimage attacks as well as not being FIPS compliant. Disabling SMBv1 support may prevent access to file or print sharing resources with systems or devices that only support SMBv1. File shares and print services hosted on Windows Server 2003 are an example, however Windows Server 2003 is no longer a supported operating system. Some older Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices may only support SMBv1.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The Server Message Block (SMB) v1 protocol must be disabled on the SMB server.
Medium Severity
SMBv1 is a legacy protocol that uses the MD5 algorithm as part of SMB. MD5 is known to be vulnerable to a number of attacks such as collision and preimage attacks as well as not being FIPS compliant. Disabling SMBv1 support may prevent access to file or print sharing resources with systems or devices that only support SMBv1. File shares and print services hosted on Windows Server 2003 are an example, however Windows Server 2003 is no longer a supported operating system. Some older network attached devices may only support SMBv1.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The Server Message Block (SMB) v1 protocol must be disabled on the SMB client.
Medium Severity
SMBv1 is a legacy protocol that uses the MD5 algorithm as part of SMB. MD5 is known to be vulnerable to a number of attacks such as collision and preimage attacks as well as not being FIPS compliant. Disabling SMBv1 support may prevent access to file or print sharing resources with systems or devices that only support SMBv1. File shares and print services hosted on Windows Server 2003 are an example, however Windows Server 2003 is no longer a supported operating system. Some older network attached devices may only support SMBv1.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The Secondary Logon service must be disabled on Windows 10.
Medium Severity
The Secondary Logon service provides a means for entering alternate credentials, typically used to run commands with elevated privileges. Using privileged credentials in a standard user session can expose those credentials to theft.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Orphaned security identifiers (SIDs) must be removed from user rights on Windows 10.
Medium Severity
Accounts or groups given rights on a system may show up as unresolved SIDs for various reasons including deletion of the accounts or groups. If the account or group objects are reanimated, there is a potential they may still have rights no longer intended. Valid domain accounts or groups may also show up as unresolved SIDs if a connection to the domain cannot be established for some reason.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Bluetooth must be turned off unless approved by the organization.
Medium Severity
If not configured properly, Bluetooth may allow rogue devices to communicate with a system. If a rogue device is paired with a system, there is potential for sensitive information to be compromised.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Bluetooth must be turned off when not in use.
Medium Severity
If not configured properly, Bluetooth may allow rogue devices to communicate with a system. If a rogue device is paired with a system, there is potential for sensitive information to be compromised.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The system must notify the user when a Bluetooth device attempts to connect.
Medium Severity
If not configured properly, Bluetooth may allow rogue devices to communicate with a system. If a rogue device is paired with a system, there is potential for sensitive information to be compromised
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Administrative accounts must not be used with applications that access the Internet, such as web browsers, or with potential Internet sources, such as email.
High Severity
Using applications that access the Internet or have potential Internet sources using administrative privileges exposes a system to compromise. If a flaw in an application is exploited while running as a privileged user, the entire system could be compromised. Web browsers and email are common attack vectors for introducing malicious code and must not be run with an administrative account. Since administrative accounts may generally change or work around technical restrictions for running a web browser or other applications, it is essential that policy requires administrative accounts to not access the Internet or use applications, such as email. The policy should define specific exceptions for local service administration. These exceptions may include HTTP(S)-based tools that are used for the administration of the local system, services, or attached devices. Technical means such as application whitelisting can be used to enforce the policy to ensure compliance.
SRG-OS-000185-GPOS-00079
1 Rule
Windows 10 nonpersistent VM sessions must not exceed 24 hours.
Medium Severity
For virtual desktop implementations (VDIs) where the virtual desktop instance is deleted or refreshed upon logoff, the organization should enforce that sessions be terminated within 24 hours. This would ensure any data stored on the VM that is not encrypted or covered by Credential Guard is deleted.
SRG-OS-000329-GPOS-00128
1 Rule
Windows 10 account lockout duration must be configured to 15 minutes or greater.
Medium Severity
The account lockout feature, when enabled, prevents brute-force password attacks on the system. This parameter specifies the amount of time that an account will remain locked after the specified number of failed logon attempts.
SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005
1 Rule
The number of allowed bad logon attempts must be configured to 3 or less.
Medium Severity
The account lockout feature, when enabled, prevents brute-force password attacks on the system. The higher this value is, the less effective the account lockout feature will be in protecting the local system. The number of bad logon attempts must be reasonably small to minimize the possibility of a successful password attack, while allowing for honest errors made during a normal user logon.
SRG-OS-000021-GPOS-00005
1 Rule
The period of time before the bad logon counter is reset must be configured to 15 minutes.
Medium Severity
The account lockout feature, when enabled, prevents brute-force password attacks on the system. This parameter specifies the period of time that must pass after failed logon attempts before the counter is reset to 0. The smaller this value is, the less effective the account lockout feature will be in protecting the local system.
SRG-OS-000077-GPOS-00045
1 Rule
The password history must be configured to 24 passwords remembered.
Medium Severity
A system is more vulnerable to unauthorized access when system users recycle the same password several times without being required to change a password to a unique password on a regularly scheduled basis. This enables users to effectively negate the purpose of mandating periodic password changes. The default value is 24 for Windows domain systems. DOD has decided this is the appropriate value for all Windows systems.
SRG-OS-000076-GPOS-00044
1 Rule
The maximum password age must be configured to 60 days or less.
Medium Severity
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 system users to crack passwords and gain access to a system.
SRG-OS-000075-GPOS-00043
1 Rule
The minimum password age must be configured to at least 1 day.
Medium Severity
Permitting passwords to be changed in immediate succession within the same day allows users to cycle passwords through their history database. This enables users to effectively negate the purpose of mandating periodic password changes.
SRG-OS-000078-GPOS-00046
1 Rule
Passwords must, at a minimum, be 14 characters.
Medium Severity
Information systems not protected with strong password schemes (including passwords of minimum length) provide the opportunity for anyone to crack the password, thus gaining access to the system and compromising the device, information, or the local network.
SRG-OS-000069-GPOS-00037
1 Rule
The built-in Microsoft password complexity filter must be enabled.
Medium Severity
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 password complexity policy.
SRG-OS-000073-GPOS-00041
1 Rule
Reversible password encryption must be disabled.
High Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Account Logon - Credential Validation failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Credential validation records events related to validation tests on credentials for a user account logon.
SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Account Logon - Credential Validation successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Credential validation records events related to validation tests on credentials for a user account logon.
SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Account Management - Security Group Management successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Security Group Management records events such as creating, deleting or changing of security groups, including changes in group members.
SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Account Management - User Account Management failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. User Account Management records events such as creating, changing, deleting, renaming, disabling, or enabling user accounts.
SRG-OS-000004-GPOS-00004
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Account Management - User Account Management successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. User Account Management records events such as creating, changing, deleting, renaming, disabling, or enabling user accounts.
SRG-OS-000365-GPOS-00152
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Detailed Tracking - PNP Activity successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Plug and Play activity records events related to the successful connection of external devices.
SRG-OS-000365-GPOS-00152
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Detailed Tracking - Process Creation successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Process creation records events related to the creation of a process and the source.
SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Logon/Logoff - Account Lockout failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Account Lockout events can be used to identify potentially malicious logon attempts.
SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Logon/Logoff - Group Membership successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit Group Membership records information related to the group membership of a user's logon token.
SRG-OS-000032-GPOS-00013
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Logon/Logoff - Logoff successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Logoff records user logoffs. If this is an interactive logoff, it is recorded on the local system. If it is to a network share, it is recorded on the system accessed.
SRG-OS-000032-GPOS-00013
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Logon/Logoff - Logon failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Logon records user logons. If this is an interactive logon, it is recorded on the local system. If it is to a network share, it is recorded on the system accessed.
SRG-OS-000032-GPOS-00013
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Logon/Logoff - Logon successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Logon records user logons. If this is an interactive logon, it is recorded on the local system. If it is to a network share, it is recorded on the system accessed.
SRG-OS-000470-GPOS-00214
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Logon/Logoff - Special Logon successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Special Logon records special logons which have administrative privileges and can be used to elevate processes.
SRG-OS-000474-GPOS-00219
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit Object Access - File Share failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Auditing file shares records events related to connection to shares on a system including system shares such as C$.
SRG-OS-000474-GPOS-00219
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit Object Access - File Share successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Auditing file shares records events related to connection to shares on a system including system shares such as C$.
SRG-OS-000474-GPOS-00219
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit Object Access - Other Object Access Events successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Auditing for other object access records events related to the management of task scheduler jobs and COM+ objects.
SRG-OS-000474-GPOS-00219
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit Object Access - Other Object Access Events failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Auditing for other object access records events related to the management of task scheduler jobs and COM+ objects.
SRG-OS-000474-GPOS-00219
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Object Access - Removable Storage failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Auditing object access for removable media records events related to access attempts on file system objects on removable storage devices.
SRG-OS-000474-GPOS-00219
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Object Access - Removable Storage successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Auditing object access for removable media records events related to access attempts on file system objects on removable storage devices.
SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Policy Change - Audit Policy Change successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit Policy Change records events related to changes in audit policy.
SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Policy Change - Authentication Policy Change successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Authentication Policy Change records events related to changes in authentication policy including Kerberos policy and Trust changes.
SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Policy Change - Authorization Policy Change successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Authorization Policy Change records events related to changes in user rights, such as Create a token object.
SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Privilege Use - Sensitive Privilege Use failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Sensitive Privilege Use records events related to use of sensitive privileges, such as "Act as part of the operating system" or "Debug programs".
SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit Privilege Use - Sensitive Privilege Use successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Sensitive Privilege Use records events related to use of sensitive privileges, such as "Act as part of the operating system" or "Debug programs".
SRG-OS-000477-GPOS-00222
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit System - IPSec Driver failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. IPSec Driver records events related to the IPSec Driver such as dropped packets.
SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit System - Other System Events successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit Other System Events records information related to cryptographic key operations and the Windows Firewall service.
SRG-OS-000471-GPOS-00215
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit System - Other System Events failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit Other System Events records information related to cryptographic key operations and the Windows Firewall service.
SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit System - Security State Change successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Security State Change records events related to changes in the security state, such as startup and shutdown of the system.
SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit System - Security System Extension successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Security System Extension records events related to extension code being loaded by the security subsystem.
SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit System - System Integrity failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. System Integrity records events related to violations of integrity to the security subsystem.
SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127
1 Rule
The system must be configured to audit System - System Integrity successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. System Integrity records events related to violations of integrity to the security subsystem.
SRG-OS-000341-GPOS-00132
1 Rule
The Application event log size must be configured to 32768 KB or greater.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000341-GPOS-00132
1 Rule
The Security event log size must be configured to 1024000 KB or greater.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000341-GPOS-00132
1 Rule
The System event log size must be configured to 32768 KB or greater.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027
1 Rule
Windows 10 permissions for the Application event log must prevent access by non-privileged accounts.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. The Application event log may be susceptible to tampering if proper permissions are not applied.
SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027
1 Rule
Windows 10 permissions for the Security event log must prevent access by non-privileged accounts.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. The Security event log may disclose sensitive information or be susceptible to tampering if proper permissions are not applied.
SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027
1 Rule
Windows 10 permissions for the System event log must prevent access by non-privileged accounts.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. The System event log may be susceptible to tampering if proper permissions are not applied.
SRG-OS-000037-GPOS-00015
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit Other Policy Change Events Failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit Other Policy Change Events contains events about EFS Data Recovery Agent policy changes, changes in Windows Filtering Platform filter, status on Security policy settings updates for local Group Policy settings, Central Access Policy changes, and detailed troubleshooting events for Cryptographic Next Generation (CNG) operations.
SRG-OS-000037-GPOS-00015
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit other Logon/Logoff Events Successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit Other Logon/Logoff Events determines whether Windows generates audit events for other logon or logoff events. Logon events are essential to understanding user activity and detecting potential attacks.
SRG-OS-000037-GPOS-00015
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit other Logon/Logoff Events Failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit Other Logon/Logoff Events determines whether Windows generates audit events for other logon or logoff events. Logon events are essential to understanding user activity and detecting potential attacks.
SRG-OS-000037-GPOS-00015
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit Detailed File Share Failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit Detailed File Share allows the auditing of attempts to access files and folders on a shared folder. The Detailed File Share setting logs an event every time a file or folder is accessed, whereas the File Share setting only records one event for any connection established between a client and file share. Detailed File Share audit events include detailed information about the permissions or other criteria used to grant or deny access.
SRG-OS-000037-GPOS-00015
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit MPSSVC Rule-Level Policy Change Successes.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit MPSSVC Rule-Level Policy Change determines whether the operating system generates audit events when changes are made to policy rules for the Microsoft Protection Service (MPSSVC.exe).
SRG-OS-000037-GPOS-00015
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to audit MPSSVC Rule-Level Policy Change Failures.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Audit MPSSVC Rule-Level Policy Change determines whether the operating system generates audit events when changes are made to policy rules for the Microsoft Protection Service (MPSSVC.exe).
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Camera access from the lock screen must be disabled.
Medium Severity
Enabling camera access from the lock screen could allow for unauthorized use. Requiring logon will ensure the device is only used by authorized personnel.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Windows 10 must cover or disable the built-in or attached camera when not in use.
Medium Severity
It is detrimental for operating systems to provide, or install by default, functionality exceeding requirements or mission objectives. These unnecessary capabilities or services are often overlooked and therefore may remain unsecured. They increase the risk to the platform by providing additional attack vectors. Failing to disconnect from collaborative computing devices (i.e., cameras) can result in subsequent compromises of organizational information. Providing easy methods to physically disconnect from such devices after a collaborative computing session helps to ensure that participants actually carry out the disconnect activity without having to go through complex and tedious procedures. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049, SRG-OS-000370-GPOS-00155
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The display of slide shows on the lock screen must be disabled.
Medium Severity
Slide shows 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.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
IPv6 source routing must be configured to highest protection.
Medium Severity
Configuring the system to disable IPv6 source routing protects against spoofing.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The system must be configured to prevent IP source routing.
Medium Severity
Configuring the system to disable IP source routing protects against spoofing.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The system must be configured to prevent Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) redirects from overriding Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) generated routes.
Low Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000420-GPOS-00186
1 Rule
The system must be configured to ignore NetBIOS name release requests except from WINS servers.
Low Severity
Configuring the system to ignore name release requests, except from WINS servers, prevents a denial of service (DoS) attack. The DoS consists of sending a NetBIOS name release request to the server for each entry in the server's cache, causing a response delay in the normal operation of the servers WINS resolution capability.
SRG-OS-000134-GPOS-00068
1 Rule
Local administrator accounts must have their privileged token filtered to prevent elevated privileges from being used over the network on domain systems.
Medium Severity
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 built-in administrator accounts will prevent the elevated privileges of these accounts from being used over the network.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
WDigest Authentication must be disabled.
Medium Severity
When the WDigest Authentication protocol is enabled, plain text passwords are stored in the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) exposing them to theft. WDigest is disabled by default in Windows 10. This setting ensures this is enforced.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Run as different user must be removed from context menus.
Medium Severity
The "Run as different user" selection from context menus allows the use of credentials other than the currently logged on user. Using privileged credentials in a standard user session can expose those credentials to theft. Removing this option from context menus helps prevent this from occurring.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Insecure logons to an SMB server must be disabled.
Medium Severity
Insecure guest logons allow unauthenticated access to shared folders. Shared resources on a system must require authentication to establish proper access.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Internet connection sharing must be disabled.
Medium Severity
Internet connection sharing makes it possible for an existing internet connection, such as through wireless, to be shared and used by other systems essentially creating a mobile hotspot. This exposes the system sharing the connection to others with potentially malicious purpose.
SRG-OS-000120-GPOS-00061
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to prioritize ECC Curves with longer key lengths first.
Medium Severity
Use of weak or untested encryption algorithms undermines the purposes of utilizing encryption to protect data. By default Windows uses ECC curves with shorter key lengths first. Requiring ECC curves with longer key lengths to be prioritized first helps ensure more secure algorithms are used.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Simultaneous connections to the internet or a Windows domain must be limited.
Medium Severity
Multiple network connections can provide additional attack vectors to a system and must be limited. The "Minimize the number of simultaneous connections to the Internet or a Windows Domain" setting prevents systems from automatically establishing multiple connections. When both wired and wireless connections are available, for example, the less-preferred connection (typically wireless) will be disconnected.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Connections to non-domain networks when connected to a domain authenticated network must be blocked.
Medium Severity
Multiple network connections can provide additional attack vectors to a system and should be limited. When connected to a domain, communication must go through the domain connection.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Wi-Fi Sense must be disabled.
Medium Severity
Wi-Fi Sense automatically connects the system to known hotspots and networks that contacts have shared. It also allows the sharing of the system's known networks to contacts. Automatically connecting to hotspots and shared networks can expose a system to unsecured or potentially malicious systems.
SRG-OS-000042-GPOS-00020
1 Rule
Command line data must be included in process creation events.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Enabling "Include command line data for process creation events" will record the command line information with the process creation events in the log. This can provide additional detail when malware has run on a system.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to enable Remote host allows delegation of non-exportable credentials.
Medium Severity
An exportable version of credentials is provided to remote hosts when using credential delegation which exposes them to theft on the remote host. Restricted Admin mode or Remote Credential Guard allow delegation of non-exportable credentials providing additional protection of the credentials. Enabling this configures the host to support Restricted Admin mode or Remote Credential Guard.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Virtualization Based Security must be enabled on Windows 10 with the platform security level configured to Secure Boot or Secure Boot with DMA Protection.
Medium Severity
Virtualization Based Security (VBS) provides the platform for the additional security features, Credential Guard and Virtualization based protection of code integrity. Secure Boot is the minimum security level with DMA protection providing additional memory protection. DMA Protection requires a CPU that supports input/output memory management unit (IOMMU).
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Credential Guard must be running on Windows 10 domain-joined systems.
High Severity
Credential Guard uses virtualization based security to protect information that could be used in credential theft attacks if compromised. This authentication information, which was stored in the Local Security Authority (LSA) in previous versions of Windows, is isolated from the rest of operating system and can only be accessed by privileged system software.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Early Launch Antimalware, Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy must prevent boot drivers.
Medium Severity
By being launched first by the kernel, ELAM ( Early Launch Antimalware) is ensured to be launched before any third-party software, and is therefore able to detect malware in the boot process and prevent it from initializing.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Group Policy objects must be reprocessed even if they have not changed.
Medium Severity
Enabling this setting and then selecting the "Process even if the Group Policy objects have not changed" option ensures that the policies will be reprocessed even if none have been changed. This way, any unauthorized changes are forced to match the domain-based group policy settings again.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Downloading print driver packages over HTTP must be prevented.
Medium Severity
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Turning off this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise and uncontrolled updates to the system. This setting prevents the computer from downloading print driver packages over HTTP.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Web publishing and online ordering wizards must be prevented from downloading a list of providers.
Medium Severity
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Turning off this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise and uncontrolled updates to the system. This setting prevents Windows from downloading a list of providers for the Web publishing and online ordering wizards.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Printing over HTTP must be prevented.
Medium Severity
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Turning off this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise and uncontrolled updates to the system. This setting prevents the client computer from printing over HTTP, which allows the computer to print to printers on the intranet as well as the Internet.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Systems must at least attempt device authentication using certificates.
Medium Severity
Using certificates to authenticate devices to the domain provides increased security over passwords. By default systems will attempt to authenticate using certificates and fall back to passwords if the domain controller does not support certificates for devices. This may also be configured to always use certificates for device authentication.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The network selection user interface (UI) must not be displayed on the logon screen.
Medium Severity
Enabling interaction with the network selection UI allows users to change connections to available networks without signing into Windows.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Local users on domain-joined computers must not be enumerated.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156
1 Rule
Users must be prompted for a password on resume from sleep (on battery).
Medium Severity
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).
SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156
1 Rule
The user must be prompted for a password on resume from sleep (plugged in).
Medium Severity
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).
SRG-OS-000138-GPOS-00069
1 Rule
Solicited Remote Assistance must not be allowed.
High Severity
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 unauthorized parties access to the resources on the computer.
SRG-OS-000379-GPOS-00164
1 Rule
Unauthenticated RPC clients must be restricted from connecting to the RPC server.
Medium Severity
Configuring RPC to restrict unauthenticated RPC clients from connecting to the RPC server will prevent anonymous connections.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The setting to allow Microsoft accounts to be optional for modern style apps must be enabled.
Low Severity
Control of credentials and the system must be maintained within the enterprise. Enabling this setting allows enterprise credentials to be used with modern style apps that support this, instead of Microsoft accounts.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The Application Compatibility Program Inventory must be prevented from collecting data and sending the information to Microsoft.
Low Severity
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Turning off this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise and uncontrolled updates to the system. This setting will prevent the Program Inventory from collecting data about a system and sending the information to Microsoft.
SRG-OS-000368-GPOS-00154
1 Rule
Autoplay must be turned off for non-volume devices.
High Severity
Allowing autoplay to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. Autoplay begins reading from a drive as soon as you insert media in the drive. As a result, the setup file of programs or music on audio media may start. This setting will disable autoplay for non-volume devices (such as Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) devices).
SRG-OS-000368-GPOS-00154
1 Rule
The default autorun behavior must be configured to prevent autorun commands.
High Severity
Allowing autorun commands to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. Configuring this setting prevents autorun commands from executing.
SRG-OS-000368-GPOS-00154
1 Rule
Autoplay must be disabled for all drives.
High Severity
Allowing autoplay to execute may introduce malicious code to a system. Autoplay begins reading from a drive as soon as you insert media in the drive. As a result, the setup file of programs or music on audio media may start. By default, autoplay is disabled on removable drives, such as the floppy disk drive (but not the CD-ROM drive) and on network drives. If you enable this policy, you can also disable autoplay on all drives.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Enhanced anti-spoofing for facial recognition must be enabled on Window 10.
Medium Severity
Enhanced anti-spoofing provides additional protections when using facial recognition with devices that support it.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Microsoft consumer experiences must be turned off.
Low Severity
Microsoft consumer experiences provides suggestions and notifications to users, which may include the installation of Windows Store apps. Organizations may control the execution of applications through other means such as whitelisting. Turning off Microsoft consumer experiences will help prevent the unwanted installation of suggested applications.
SRG-OS-000134-GPOS-00068
1 Rule
Administrator accounts must not be enumerated during elevation.
Medium Severity
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 username and password to elevate a running application.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
If Enhanced diagnostic data is enabled it must be limited to the minimum required to support Windows Analytics.
Medium Severity
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Limiting this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise. The "Enhanced" level for telemetry includes additional information beyond "Security" and "Basic" on how Windows and apps are used and advanced reliability data. Windows Analytics can use a "limited enhanced" level to provide information such as health data for devices.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows Telemetry must not be configured to Full.
Medium Severity
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Limiting this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise. The "Security" option for Telemetry configures the lowest amount of data, effectively none outside of the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), Defender, and telemetry client settings. "Basic" sends basic diagnostic and usage data and may be required to support some Microsoft services. "Enhanced" includes additional information on how Windows and apps are used and advanced reliability data. Windows Analytics can use a "limited enhanced" level to provide information such as health data for devices. This requires the configuration of an additional setting available with v1709 and later of Windows 10.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows Update must not obtain updates from other PCs on the internet.
Low Severity
Windows 10 allows Windows Update to obtain updates from additional sources instead of Microsoft. In addition to Microsoft, updates can be obtained from and sent to PCs on the local network as well as on the internet. This is part of the Windows Update trusted process; however, to minimize outside exposure, obtaining updates from or sending to systems on the internet must be prevented.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The Windows Defender SmartScreen for Explorer must be enabled.
Medium Severity
Windows Defender SmartScreen helps protect systems from programs downloaded from the internet that may be malicious. Enabling Windows Defender SmartScreen will warn or prevent users from running potentially malicious programs.
SRG-OS-000433-GPOS-00192
1 Rule
Explorer Data Execution Prevention must be enabled.
Medium Severity
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 from being turned off for File Explorer.
SRG-OS-000420-GPOS-00186
1 Rule
Turning off File Explorer heap termination on corruption must be disabled.
Low Severity
Legacy plug-in applications may continue to function when a File Explorer session has become corrupt. Disabling this feature will prevent this.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
File Explorer shell protocol must run in protected mode.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Users must not be allowed to ignore Windows Defender SmartScreen filter warnings for malicious websites in Microsoft Edge.
Medium Severity
The Windows Defender SmartScreen filter in Microsoft Edge provides warning messages and blocks potentially malicious websites and file downloads. If users are allowed to ignore warnings from the Windows Defender SmartScreen filter they could still access malicious websites.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Users must not be allowed to ignore Windows Defender SmartScreen filter warnings for unverified files in Microsoft Edge.
Medium Severity
The Windows Defender SmartScreen filter in Microsoft Edge provides warning messages and blocks potentially malicious websites and file downloads. If users are allowed to ignore warnings from the Windows Defender SmartScreen filter they could still download potentially malicious files.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to prevent certificate error overrides in Microsoft Edge.
Medium Severity
Web security certificates provide an indication whether a site is legitimate. This policy setting prevents the user from ignoring Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) certificate errors that interrupt browsing.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The password manager function in the Edge browser must be disabled.
Medium Severity
Passwords save locally for re-use when browsing may be subject to compromise. Disabling the Edge password manager will prevent this for the browser.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The Windows Defender SmartScreen filter for Microsoft Edge must be enabled.
Medium Severity
The Windows Defender SmartScreen filter in Microsoft Edge provides warning messages and blocks potentially malicious websites.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to disable Windows Game Recording and Broadcasting.
Medium Severity
Windows Game Recording and Broadcasting is intended for use with games, however it could potentially record screen shots of other applications and expose sensitive data. Disabling the feature will prevent this from occurring.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The use of a hardware security device with Windows Hello for Business must be enabled.
Medium Severity
The use of a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to store keys for Windows Hello for Business provides additional security. Keys stored in the TPM may only be used on that system while keys stored using software are more susceptible to compromise and could be used on other systems.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to require a minimum pin length of six characters or greater.
Medium Severity
Windows allows the use of PINs as well as biometrics for authentication without sending a password to a network or website where it could be compromised. Longer minimum PIN lengths increase the available combinations an attacker would have to attempt. Shorter minimum length significantly reduces the strength.
SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156
1 Rule
Passwords must not be saved in the Remote Desktop Client.
Medium Severity
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 passwords in the Remote Desktop Client.
SRG-OS-000138-GPOS-00069
1 Rule
Local drives must be prevented from sharing with Remote Desktop Session Hosts.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156
1 Rule
Remote Desktop Services must always prompt a client for passwords upon connection.
Medium Severity
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 a connection item to connect to the terminal server.
SRG-OS-000250-GPOS-00093
1 Rule
The Remote Desktop Session Host must require secure RPC communications.
Medium Severity
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 client and server and modifies them before allowing the packets to be exchanged. Usually the attacker will modify the information in the packets in an attempt to cause either the client or server to reveal sensitive information.
SRG-OS-000033-GPOS-00014
1 Rule
Remote Desktop Services must be configured with the client connection encryption set to the required level.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Attachments must be prevented from being downloaded from RSS feeds.
Medium Severity
Attachments from RSS feeds may not be secure. This setting will prevent attachments from being downloaded from RSS feeds.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Basic authentication for RSS feeds over HTTP must not be used.
Medium Severity
Basic authentication uses plain text passwords that could be used to compromise a system.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Indexing of encrypted files must be turned off.
Medium Severity
Indexing of encrypted files may expose sensitive data. This setting prevents encrypted files from being indexed.
SRG-OS-000362-GPOS-00149
1 Rule
Users must be prevented from changing installation options.
Medium Severity
Installation options for applications are typically controlled by administrators. This setting prevents users from changing installation options that may bypass security features.
SRG-OS-000362-GPOS-00149
1 Rule
The Windows Installer Always install with elevated privileges must be disabled.
High Severity
Standard user accounts must not be granted elevated privileges. Enabling Windows Installer to elevate privileges when installing applications can allow malicious persons and applications to gain full control of a system.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Users must be notified if a web-based program attempts to install software.
Medium Severity
Web-based programs may attempt to install malicious software on a system. Ensuring users are notified if a web-based program attempts to install software allows them to refuse the installation.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00229
1 Rule
Automatically signing in the last interactive user after a system-initiated restart must be disabled.
Medium Severity
Windows can be configured to automatically sign the user back in after a Windows Update restart. Some protections are in place to help ensure this is done in a secure fashion; however, disabling this will prevent the caching of credentials for this purpose and also ensure the user is aware of the restart.
SRG-OS-000042-GPOS-00020
1 Rule
PowerShell script block logging must be enabled on Windows 10.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Enabling PowerShell script block logging will record detailed information from the processing of PowerShell commands and scripts. This can provide additional detail when malware has run on a system.
SRG-OS-000125-GPOS-00065
1 Rule
The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) client must not use Basic authentication.
High Severity
Basic authentication uses plain text passwords that could be used to compromise a system.
SRG-OS-000393-GPOS-00173
1 Rule
The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) client must not allow unencrypted traffic.
Medium Severity
Unencrypted remote access to a system can allow sensitive information to be compromised. Windows remote management connections must be encrypted to prevent this.
SRG-OS-000125-GPOS-00065
1 Rule
The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service must not use Basic authentication.
High Severity
Basic authentication uses plain text passwords that could be used to compromise a system.
SRG-OS-000393-GPOS-00173
1 Rule
The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service must not allow unencrypted traffic.
Medium Severity
Unencrypted remote access to a system can allow sensitive information to be compromised. Windows remote management connections must be encrypted to prevent this.
SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00156
1 Rule
The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service must not store RunAs credentials.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000125-GPOS-00065
1 Rule
The Windows Remote Management (WinRM) client must not use Digest authentication.
Medium Severity
Digest authentication is not as strong as other options and may be subject to man-in-the-middle attacks.
SRG-OS-000028-GPOS-00009
1 Rule
Windows 10 must be configured to prevent Windows apps from being activated by voice while the system is locked.
Medium Severity
Allowing Windows apps to be activated by voice from the lock screen could allow for unauthorized use. Requiring logon will ensure the apps are only used by authorized personnel.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
The convenience PIN for Windows 10 must be disabled.
Medium Severity
This policy controls whether a domain user can sign in using a convenience PIN to prevent enabling (Password Stuffer).
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Windows Ink Workspace must be configured to disallow access above the lock.
Medium Severity
This action secures Windows Ink, which contains applications and features oriented toward pen computing.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Windows 10 should be configured to prevent users from receiving suggestions for third-party or additional applications.
Low Severity
Windows spotlight features may suggest apps and content from third-party software publishers in addition to Microsoft apps and content.
SRG-OS-000138-GPOS-00069
1 Rule
Windows 10 Kernel (Direct Memory Access) DMA Protection must be enabled.
Medium Severity
Kernel DMA Protection to protect PCs against drive-by Direct Memory Access (DMA) attacks using PCI hot plug devices connected to Thunderbolt™ 3 ports. Drive-by DMA attacks can lead to disclosure of sensitive information residing on a PC, or even injection of malware that allows attackers to bypass the lock screen or control PCs remotely.
SRG-OS-000066-GPOS-00034
1 Rule
The DoD Root CA certificates must be installed in the Trusted Root Store.
Medium Severity
To ensure secure DoD websites and DoD-signed code are properly validated, the system must trust the DoD Root Certificate Authorities (CAs). The DoD root certificates will ensure the trust chain is established for server certificates issued from the DoD CAs.
SRG-OS-000066-GPOS-00034
1 Rule
The External Root CA certificates must be installed in the Trusted Root Store on unclassified systems.
Medium Severity
To ensure secure websites protected with External Certificate Authority (ECA) server certificates are properly validated, the system must trust the ECA Root CAs. The ECA root certificates will ensure the trust chain is established for server certificates issued from the External CAs. This requirement only applies to unclassified systems.
SRG-OS-000066-GPOS-00034
1 Rule
The DoD Interoperability Root CA cross-certificates must be installed in the Untrusted Certificates Store on unclassified systems.
Medium Severity
To ensure users do not experience denial of service when performing certificate-based authentication to DoD websites due to the system chaining to a root other than DoD Root CAs, the DoD Interoperability Root CA cross-certificates must be installed in the Untrusted Certificate Store. This requirement only applies to unclassified systems.
SRG-OS-000066-GPOS-00034
1 Rule
The US DoD CCEB Interoperability Root CA cross-certificates must be installed in the Untrusted Certificates Store on unclassified systems.
Medium Severity
To ensure users do not experience denial of service when performing certificate-based authentication to DoD websites due to the system chaining to a root other than DoD Root CAs, the US DoD CCEB Interoperability Root CA cross-certificates must be installed in the Untrusted Certificate Store. This requirement only applies to unclassified systems.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
Default permissions for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry hive must be maintained.
Medium Severity
The registry is integral to the function, security, and stability of the Windows system. Changing the system's registry permissions allows the possibility of unauthorized and anonymous modification to the operating system.
SRG-OS-000104-GPOS-00051
1 Rule
The built-in administrator account must be disabled.
Medium Severity
The built-in administrator account is a well-known account subject to attack. It also provides no accountability to individual administrators on a system. It must be disabled to prevent its use.
SRG-OS-000121-GPOS-00062
1 Rule
The built-in guest account must be disabled.
Medium Severity
A system faces an increased vulnerability threat if the built-in guest account is not disabled. This account is a known account that exists on all Windows systems and cannot be deleted. This account is initialized during the installation of the operating system with no password assigned.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Local accounts with blank passwords must be restricted to prevent access from the network.
Medium Severity
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 system. However, if a local account with a blank password did exist, enabling this setting will prevent network access, limiting the account to local console logon only.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The built-in administrator account must be renamed.
Medium Severity
The built-in administrator account is a well-known account subject to attack. Renaming this account to an unidentified name improves the protection of this account and the system.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The built-in guest account must be renamed.
Medium Severity
The built-in guest account is a well-known user account on all Windows systems and, as initially installed, does not require a password. This can allow access to system resources by unauthorized users. Renaming this account to an unidentified name improves the protection of this account and the system.
SRG-OS-000062-GPOS-00031
1 Rule
Audit policy using subcategories must be enabled.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. This setting allows administrators to enable more precise auditing capabilities.
SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187
1 Rule
Outgoing secure channel traffic must be encrypted or signed.
Medium Severity
Requests sent on the secure channel are authenticated, and sensitive information (such as passwords) is encrypted, but not all information is encrypted. If this policy is enabled, outgoing secure channel traffic will be encrypted and signed.
SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187
1 Rule
Outgoing secure channel traffic must be encrypted when possible.
Medium Severity
Requests sent on the secure channel are authenticated, and sensitive information (such as passwords) is encrypted, but not all information is encrypted. If this policy is enabled, outgoing secure channel traffic will be encrypted.
SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187
1 Rule
Outgoing secure channel traffic must be signed when possible.
Medium Severity
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 secure channel traffic will be signed.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The computer account password must not be prevented from being reset.
Low Severity
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 can be a significant safeguard for your system. A new password for the computer account will be generated every 30 days.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The maximum age for machine account passwords must be configured to 30 days or less.
Low Severity
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 30 days, ensuring the machine changes its password monthly.
SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187
1 Rule
The system must be configured to require a strong session key.
Medium Severity
A computer connecting to a domain controller will establish a secure channel. Requiring strong session keys enforces 128-bit encryption between systems.
SRG-OS-000029-GPOS-00010
1 Rule
The machine inactivity limit must be set to 15 minutes, locking the system with the screensaver.
Medium Severity
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 critical and sensitive data from exposure to unauthorized personnel with physical access to the computer.
SRG-OS-000023-GPOS-00006
1 Rule
The required legal notice must be configured to display before console logon.
Medium Severity
Failure to display the logon banner prior to a logon attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources.
SRG-OS-000023-GPOS-00006
1 Rule
The Windows dialog box title for the legal banner must be configured.
Low Severity
Failure to display the logon banner prior to a logon attempt will negate legal proceedings resulting from unauthorized access to system resources.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Caching of logon credentials must be limited.
Low Severity
The default Windows configuration caches the last logon credentials for users who log on interactively to a system. This feature is provided for system availability reasons, such as the user's machine being disconnected from the network or domain controllers being unavailable. Even though the credential cache is well-protected, if a system is attacked, an unauthorized individual may isolate the password to a domain user account using a password-cracking program and gain access to the domain.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The Smart Card removal option must be configured to Force Logoff or Lock Workstation.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187
1 Rule
The Windows SMB client must be configured to always perform SMB packet signing.
Medium Severity
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 SMB client will only communicate with an SMB server that performs SMB packet signing.
SRG-OS-000074-GPOS-00042
1 Rule
Unencrypted passwords must not be sent to third-party SMB Servers.
Medium Severity
Some non-Microsoft SMB servers only support unencrypted (plain text) password authentication. Sending plain text passwords across the network, when authenticating to an SMB server, reduces the overall security of the environment. Check with the vendor of the SMB server to see if there is a way to support encrypted password authentication.
SRG-OS-000423-GPOS-00187
1 Rule
The Windows SMB server must be configured to always perform SMB packet signing.
Medium Severity
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 SMB server will only communicate with an SMB client that performs SMB packet signing.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Anonymous SID/Name translation must not be allowed.
High Severity
Allowing anonymous SID/Name translation can provide sensitive information for accessing a system. Only authorized users must be able to perform such translations.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Anonymous enumeration of SAM accounts must not be allowed.
High Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000138-GPOS-00069
1 Rule
Anonymous enumeration of shares must be restricted.
High Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The system must be configured to prevent anonymous users from having the same rights as the Everyone group.
Medium Severity
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 these permissions or rights.
SRG-OS-000138-GPOS-00069
1 Rule
Anonymous access to Named Pipes and Shares must be restricted.
High Severity
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 be accessed anonymously" and "Network access: Shares that can be accessed anonymously", both of which must be blank under other requirements.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
Remote calls to the Security Account Manager (SAM) must be restricted to Administrators.
Medium Severity
The Windows Security Account Manager (SAM) stores users' passwords. Restricting remote rpc connections to the SAM to Administrators helps protect those credentials.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
NTLM must be prevented from falling back to a Null session.
Medium Severity
NTLM sessions that are allowed to fall back to Null (unauthenticated) sessions may gain unauthorized access.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
PKU2U authentication using online identities must be prevented.
Medium Severity
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 accounts.
SRG-OS-000120-GPOS-00061
1 Rule
Kerberos encryption types must be configured to prevent the use of DES and RC4 encryption suites.
Medium Severity
Certain encryption types are no longer considered secure. This setting configures a minimum encryption type for Kerberos, preventing the use of the DES and RC4 encryption suites.
SRG-OS-000073-GPOS-00041
1 Rule
The system must be configured to prevent the storage of the LAN Manager hash of passwords.
High Severity
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 hash of the password is stored in the SAM the next time the password is changed.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The LanMan authentication level must be set to send NTLMv2 response only, and to refuse LM and NTLM.
High Severity
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 compatibility with clients and servers that are running earlier versions of Windows or applications that still use it. It is also used to authenticate logons to stand-alone computers that are running later versions.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The system must be configured to the required LDAP client signing level.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The system must be configured to meet the minimum session security requirement for NTLM SSP based clients.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The system must be configured to meet the minimum session security requirement for NTLM SSP based servers.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000478-GPOS-00223
1 Rule
The system must be configured to use FIPS-compliant algorithms for encryption, hashing, and signing.
Medium Severity
This setting ensures that the system uses algorithms that are FIPS-compliant for encryption, hashing, and signing. FIPS-compliant algorithms meet specific standards established by the U.S. Government and must be the algorithms used for all OS encryption functions.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
The default permissions of global system objects must be increased.
Low Severity
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 access the objects with what permissions. If this policy is enabled, the default DACL is stronger, allowing non-admin users to read shared objects, but not modify shared objects that they did not create.
SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157
1 Rule
User Account Control approval mode for the built-in Administrator must be enabled.
Medium Severity
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 Administrator account so that it runs in Admin Approval Mode.
SRG-OS-000134-GPOS-00068
1 Rule
User Account Control must, at minimum, prompt administrators for consent on the secure desktop.
Medium Severity
User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures the elevation requirements for logged on administrators to complete a task that requires raised privileges.
SRG-OS-000105-GPOS-00052
1 Rule
Windows 10 must use multifactor authentication for local and network access to privileged and nonprivileged accounts.
Medium Severity
Without the use of multifactor authentication, the ease of access to privileged and nonprivileged functions is greatly increased. All domain accounts must be enabled for multifactor authentication with the exception of local emergency accounts. Multifactor authentication requires using two or more factors to achieve authentication. Factors include: 1) Something a user knows (e.g., password/PIN); 2) Something a user has (e.g., cryptographic identification device, token); and 3) Something a user is (e.g., biometric). A privileged account is defined as an information system account with authorizations of a privileged user. Network access is defined as access to an information system by a user (or a process acting on behalf of a user) communicating through a network (e.g., local area network, wide area network, or the internet). Local access is defined as access to an organizational information system by a user (or process acting on behalf of a user) communicating through a direct connection without the use of a network. The DoD CAC with DoD-approved PKI is an example of multifactor authentication. Satisfies: SRG-OS-000106-GPOS-00053, SRG-OS-000107-GPOS-00054, SRG-OS-000108-GPOS-00055
SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157
1 Rule
User Account Control must automatically deny elevation requests for standard users.
Medium Severity
User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. Denying elevation requests from standard user accounts requires tasks that need elevation to be initiated by accounts with administrative privileges. This ensures correct accounts are used on the system for privileged tasks to help mitigate credential theft.
SRG-OS-000134-GPOS-00068
1 Rule
User Account Control must be configured to detect application installations and prompt for elevation.
Medium Severity
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 application installation requests by prompting for credentials.
SRG-OS-000134-GPOS-00068
1 Rule
User Account Control must only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations.
Medium Severity
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 applications installed in a secure location on the file system, such as the Program Files or the Windows\System32 folders, to run with elevated privileges.
SRG-OS-000373-GPOS-00157
1 Rule
User Account Control must run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode, enabling UAC.
Medium Severity
User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting enables UAC.
SRG-OS-000134-GPOS-00068
1 Rule
User Account Control must virtualize file and registry write failures to per-user locations.
Medium Severity
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 applications to run in virtualized file and registry entries in per-user locations, allowing them to run.
SRG-OS-000076-GPOS-00044
1 Rule
Passwords for enabled local Administrator accounts must be changed at least every 60 days.
Medium Severity
The longer a password is in use, the greater the opportunity for someone to gain unauthorized knowledge of the password. A local Administrator account is not generally used and its password may not be changed as frequently as necessary. Changing the password for enabled Administrator accounts on a regular basis will limit its exposure. Windows LAPS must be used to change the built-in Administrator account password.
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
1 Rule
Toast notifications to the lock screen must be turned off.
Low Severity
Toast 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.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Zone information must be preserved when saving attachments.
Medium Severity
Preserving zone of origin (internet, intranet, local, restricted) information on file attachments allows Windows to determine risk.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Access Credential Manager as a trusted caller user right must not be assigned to any groups or accounts.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Access Credential Manager as a trusted caller" user right may be able to retrieve the credentials of other accounts from Credential Manager.
SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048
1 Rule
The Access this computer from the network user right must only be assigned to the Administrators and Remote Desktop Users groups.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Access this computer from the network" user right may access resources on the system, and must be limited to those that require it.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Act as part of the operating system user right must not be assigned to any groups or accounts.
High Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Act as part of the operating system" user right can assume the identity of any user and gain access to resources that user is authorized to access. Any accounts with this right can take complete control of a system.
SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048
1 Rule
The Allow log on locally user right must only be assigned to the Administrators and Users groups.
Medium Severity
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.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Back up files and directories user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Back up files and directories" user right can circumvent file and directory permissions and could allow access to sensitive data."
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Change the system time user right must only be assigned to Administrators and Local Service and NT SERVICE\autotimesvc.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Change the system time" user right can change the system time, which can impact authentication, as well as affect time stamps on event log entries. The NT SERVICE\autotimesvc is added in v1909 cumulative update.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Create a pagefile user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Create a pagefile" user right can change the size of a pagefile, which could affect system performance.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Create a token object user right must not be assigned to any groups or accounts.
High Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. The "Create a token object" user right allows a process to create an access token. This could be used to provide elevated rights and compromise a system.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Create global objects user right must only be assigned to Administrators, Service, Local Service, and Network Service.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Create global objects" user right can create objects that are available to all sessions, which could affect processes in other users' sessions.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Create permanent shared objects user right must not be assigned to any groups or accounts.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Create permanent shared objects" user right could expose sensitive data by creating shared objects.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Create symbolic links user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
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 objects, which could potentially expose the system to attack.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Debug programs user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
High Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Debug Programs" user right can attach a debugger to any process or to the kernel, providing complete access to sensitive and critical operating system components. This right is given to Administrators in the default configuration.
SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048
1 Rule
The Deny access to this computer from the network user right on workstations must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts and local accounts on domain systems and unauthenticated access on all systems.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities. The "Deny access to this computer from the network" right defines the accounts that are prevented from logging on from the network. In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks, which could lead to the compromise of an entire domain. Local accounts on domain-joined systems must also be assigned this right to decrease the risk of lateral movement resulting from credential theft attacks. The Guests group must be assigned this right to prevent unauthenticated access.
SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048
1 Rule
The "Deny log on as a batch job" user right on domain-joined workstations must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities. The "Deny log on as a batch job" right defines accounts that are prevented from logging on to the system as a batch job, such as Task Scheduler. In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower-trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks that could lead to the compromise of an entire domain.
SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048
1 Rule
The Deny log on as a service user right on Windows 10 domain-joined workstations must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. The "Deny log on as a service" right defines accounts that are denied log on as a service. In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks which could lead to the compromise of an entire domain. Incorrect configurations could prevent services from starting and result in a DoS.
SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048
1 Rule
The Deny log on locally user right on workstations must be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts on domain systems and unauthenticated access on all systems.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities. The "Deny log on locally" right defines accounts that are prevented from logging on interactively. In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks, which could lead to the compromise of an entire domain. The Guests group must be assigned this right to prevent unauthenticated access.
SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048
1 Rule
The Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services user right on Windows 10 workstations must at a minimum be configured to prevent access from highly privileged domain accounts and local accounts on domain systems and unauthenticated access on all systems.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high-level capabilities. The "Deny log on through Remote Desktop Services" right defines the accounts that are prevented from logging on using Remote Desktop Services. If Remote Desktop Services is not used by the organization, the Everyone group must be assigned this right to prevent all access. In an Active Directory Domain, denying logons to the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups on lower trust systems helps mitigate the risk of privilege escalation from credential theft attacks, which could lead to the compromise of an entire domain. Local accounts on domain-joined systems must also be assigned this right to decrease the risk of lateral movement resulting from credential theft attacks. The Guests group must be assigned this right to prevent unauthenticated access.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation user right must not be assigned to any groups or accounts.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. The "Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation" user right allows the "Trusted for Delegation" setting to be changed. This could potentially allow unauthorized users to impersonate other users.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Force shutdown from a remote system user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Force shutdown from a remote system" user right can remotely shut down a system which could result in a DoS.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Impersonate a client after authentication user right must only be assigned to Administrators, Service, Local Service, and Network Service.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. The "Impersonate a client after authentication" user right allows a program to impersonate another user or account to run on their behalf. An attacker could potentially use this to elevate privileges.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Load and unload device drivers user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. The "Load and unload device drivers" user right allows device drivers to dynamically be loaded on a system by a user. This could potentially be used to install malicious code by an attacker.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Lock pages in memory user right must not be assigned to any groups or accounts.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. The "Lock pages in memory" user right allows physical memory to be assigned to processes, which could cause performance issues or a DoS.
SRG-OS-000057-GPOS-00027
1 Rule
The Manage auditing and security log user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Manage auditing and security log" user right can manage the security log and change auditing configurations. This could be used to clear evidence of tampering.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Modify firmware environment values user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Modify firmware environment values" user right can change hardware configuration environment variables. This could result in hardware failures or a DoS.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Perform volume maintenance tasks user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Perform volume maintenance tasks" user right can manage volume and disk configurations. They could potentially delete volumes, resulting in, data loss or a DoS.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Profile single process user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Profile single process" user right can monitor non-system processes performance. An attacker could potentially use this to identify processes to attack.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Restore files and directories user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Restore files and directories" user right can circumvent file and directory permissions and could allow access to sensitive data. It could also be used to over-write more current data.
SRG-OS-000324-GPOS-00125
1 Rule
The Take ownership of files or other objects user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group.
Medium Severity
Inappropriate granting of user rights can provide system, administrative, and other high level capabilities. Accounts with the "Take ownership of files or other objects" user right can take ownership of objects and make changes.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Hardened UNC paths must be defined to require mutual authentication and integrity for at least the \\*\SYSVOL and \\*\NETLOGON shares.
Medium Severity
Additional security requirements are applied to Universal Naming Convention (UNC) paths specified in Hardened UNC paths before allowing access to them. This aids in preventing tampering with or spoofing of connections to these paths.
SRG-OS-000041-GPOS-00019
1 Rule
PowerShell Transcription must be enabled on Windows 10.
Medium Severity
Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior. Enabling PowerShell Transcription will record detailed information from the processing of PowerShell commands and scripts. This can provide additional detail when malware has run on a system.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Virtualization-based protection of code integrity must be enabled.
Low Severity
Virtualization-based protection of code integrity enforces kernel mode memory protections and protects Code Integrity validation paths. This isolates the processes from the rest of the operating system and can only be accessed by privileged system software.
SRG-OS-000185-GPOS-00079
1 Rule
Internet Explorer must be disabled for Windows 10.
Medium Severity
Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) is no longer supported on Windows 10 semi-annual channel.
SRG-OS-000037-GPOS-00015
1 Rule
Windows 10 must have command line process auditing events enabled for failures.
Medium Severity
When this policy setting is enabled, the operating system generates audit events when a process fails to start and the name of the program or user that created it. These audit events can assist in understanding how a computer is being used and tracking user activity.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows 10 must not have portproxy enabled or in use.
Medium Severity
Having portproxy enabled or configured in Windows 10 could allow a man-in-the-middle attack.
SRG-OS-000096-GPOS-00050
1 Rule
Copilot in Windows must be disabled for Windows 10.
Medium Severity
Some features may communicate with the vendor, sending system information or downloading data or components for the feature. Turning off this capability will prevent potentially sensitive information from being sent outside the enterprise and uncontrolled updates to the system.
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
1 Rule
Windows 10 systems must use either Group Policy or an approved Mobile Device Management (MDM) product to enforce STIG compliance.
Medium Severity
Without Windows 10 systems being managed, devices could be rogue and become targets of an attacker.