Title

User Account Control must, at minimum, prompt administrators for consent on the secure desktop. (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. (See "Performing Analysis with the Security Configuration and Analysis Snap-in" in the STIG Overview document.) 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 on the secure desktop", this is a finding. 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 on the secure desktop)

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 on the secure desktop".

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-48173r2_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.