Title

The number of allowed bad logon attempts must meet minimum requirements. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

The account lockout feature, when enabled, prevents brute-force password attacks on the system. The higher this value is, the less effective the account lockout feature will be in protecting the local system. The number of bad logon attempts must be reasonably small to minimize the possibility of a successful password attack, while allowing for honest errors made during a normal user logon.

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 Account Policies -> Account Lockout Policy. If the "Account lockout threshold" is "0" or more than 3 attempts, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Account Policies -> Account Lockout Policy -> "Account lockout threshold" to "3" or less invalid logon attempts (excluding "0" which is unacceptable).

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-48026r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-1097

Group Title: Bad Logon Attempts

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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