17.5.5 Ensure 'Audit Special Logon' is set to include 'Success'

Information

This subcategory reports when a special logon is used. A special logon is a logon that has administrator-equivalent privileges and can be used to elevate a process to a higher level. Events for this subcategory include:

4964 : Special groups have been assigned to a new logon.

The recommended state for this setting is to include: Success.

Rationale:

Auditing these events may be useful when investigating a security incident.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to include Success:

Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Advanced Audit Policy Configuration\Audit Policies\Logon/Logoff\Audit Special Logon

Impact:

If no audit settings are configured, or if audit settings are too lax on the computers in your organization, security incidents might not be detected or not enough evidence will be available for network forensic analysis after security incidents occur. However, if audit settings are too severe, critically important entries in the Security log may be obscured by all of the meaningless entries and computer performance and the available amount of data storage may be seriously affected. Companies that operate in certain regulated industries may have legal obligations to log certain events or activities.

Default Value:

Success.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2700

Item Details

Category: AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

References: 800-53|AU-12c., CSCv6|5.8

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 1d64c8c23fdee7ef935308a482dd9db50e5d3060568edb26b4ba22ca68596087