Vulnerability Discussion

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.

Check

Verify the effective setting in Local Group Policy Editor.

Run "gpedit.msc".

Navigate to Local Computer Policy >> Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Local Policies >> User Rights Assignment.

If the following groups or accounts are not defined for the "Deny log on locally" right, this is a finding.

Domain Systems Only:
Enterprise Admins Group
Domain Admins Group

Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs) dedicated to the management of Active Directory are exempt from denying the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups. (See the Windows Privileged Access Workstation STIG for PAW requirements.)

All Systems:
Guests Group

Fix

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Local Policies >> User Rights Assignment >> "Deny log on locally" to include the following:

Domain Systems Only:
Enterprise Admins Group
Domain Admins Group

Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs) dedicated to the management of Active Directory are exempt from denying the Enterprise Admins and Domain Admins groups. (See the Windows Privileged Access Workstation STIG for PAW requirements.)

All Systems:
Guests Group