Title

User Account Control must, at minimum, prompt administrators for consent. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

User Account Control (UAC) is a security mechanism for limiting the elevation of privileges, including administrative accounts, unless authorized. This setting configures the elevation requirements for logged on administrators to complete a task that requires raised privileges.

Check Content

Analyze the system using the Security Configuration and Analysis snap-in. Expand the Security Configuration and Analysis tree view. Navigate to Local Policies -> Security Options. If the value for "User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode" is not set to "Prompt for consent", this is a finding. More secure options for this setting are also acceptable (e.g., Prompt for credentials). The policy referenced configures the following registry value: Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Registry Path: \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\ Value Name: ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin Value Type: REG_DWORD Value: 2 (Prompt for consent) 1 (Prompt for credentials)

Fix Text

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options -> "User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode" to "Prompt for consent". More secure options for this setting are also acceptable (e.g., Prompt for credentials).

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-14846r2_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-14235

Group Title: UAC - Admin Elevation Prompt

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.