26.6 (L1) Ensure 'Device Password Enabled: Max Device Password Failed Attempts' is set to '5 or fewer failed attempt(s), but not 0'

Information

This policy setting determines the number of failed logon attempts before the account is locked. Setting this policy to 0 does not conform to the benchmark as doing so disables the account lockout threshold.

The recommended state for this setting is: 5 or fewer invalid logon attempt(s), but not 0

Note: When a user reaches the value set by this policy, the system is not wiped, instead the system will be in BitLocker recovery mode, which makes data inaccessible but recoverable. If BitLocker is not enabled, then this policy will not be enforced.

Setting an account lockout threshold reduces the likelihood that an online password brute force attack will be successful. Setting the account lockout threshold too low introduces risk of increased accidental lockouts and/or a malicious actor intentionally locking out accounts.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via configuration profiles, set the following Settings Catalog path to 5 or fewer invalid logon attempt(s), but not 0 :

Device Lock\Device Password Enabled: Max Device Password Failed Attempts

Impact:

If this policy setting is enabled, a locked-out account will not be usable until it is reset by an administrator or until the account lockout duration expires. This setting may generate additional help desk calls.

If you enforce this setting an attacker could cause a denial-of-service condition by deliberately generating failed logons for multiple users, therefore you should also configure the Account Lockout Duration to a relatively low value.

If you configure the Account Lockout Threshold to 0, there is a possibility that an attacker's attempt to discover passwords with a brute force password attack might go undetected if a robust audit mechanism is not in place.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/21719