Detections
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18.9.98.1 (L2) Ensure 'Allow Remote Shell Access' is set to 'Disabled'

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Information

This policy setting allows you to manage configuration of remote access to all supported shells to execute scripts and commands.
The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled.
Note: The GPME help text for this setting is incorrectly worded, implying that configuring it to Enabled will reject new Remote Shell connections, and setting it to Disabled will allow Remote Shell connections. The opposite is true (and is consistent with the title of the setting). This is a wording mistake by Microsoft in the Administrative Template.

Rationale:
Any feature is a potential avenue of attack, those that enable inbound network connections are particularly risky. Only enable the use of the Windows Remote Shell on trusted networks and when feasible employ additional controls such as IPsec.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Disabled:
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Remote Shell\Allow Remote Shell Access
Note: This Group Policy path is provided by the Group Policy template WindowsRemoteShell.admx/adml that is included with all versions of the Microsoft Windows Administrative Templates.

Impact:
New Remote Shell connections are not allowed and are rejected by the workstation.

Default Value:
Enabled. (New Remote Shell connections are allowed.)

References:
1. CCE-33740-2

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/2754

Item Details

References: CSCv6|3.4, CSCv7|4.5, CSCv7|9.2, CSCv7|9.3

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 34cf689d06df814ee4b0aeef39c494081165dfb60575cc10664faba215d8519f