Title

Group Policies must be refreshed in the background if the user is logged on. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

If this setting is enabled, then Group Policy settings are not refreshed while a user is currently logged on. This could lead to instances when a user does not have the latest changes to a policy applied and is therefore operating in an insecure context.

Check Content

Review the registry. If the following registry value does not exist, this is not a finding (this is the expected result from configuring the policy as outlined in the Fix section). If the following registry value exists but is not configured as specified, this is a finding. Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Subkey: \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system\ Value Name: DisableBkGndGroupPolicy Type: REG_DWORD Value: 0

Fix Text

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Group Policy -> "Turn off background refresh of Group Policy" to "Disabled".

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-51981r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-3469

Group Title: Group Policy - Do Not Turn off Background Refresh

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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