5.098 - The system must limit how many times unacknowledged TCP data is retransmitted.

Information

In a SYN flood attack, the attacker sends a continuous stream of SYN packets to a server, and the server leaves the half-open connections open until it is overwhelmed and no longer is able to respond to legitimate requests.

Solution

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Local Policies >> Security Options >> 'MSS- (TcpMaxDataRetransmissions) How many times unacknowledged data is retransmitted (3 recommended, 5 is default)' to '3' or less.

See Also

http://iasecontent.disa.mil/stigs/zip/Oct2016/U_Windows_Vista_V6R41_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|SC-5, CAT|III, CCI|CCI-002385, Rule-ID|SV-29372r2_rule, STIG-ID|5.098, Vuln-ID|V-4438

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: c86d34f7bcb89d269d28d363154d539b273a74f4559675d439c68255195fda86