TMA-VSCODE-1.3.2

Ensure 'TelemetryLevel' is set to 'Enabled: off'

LowLevel 1Automatedvscode

Description

This policy setting controls telemetry for VS Code and extensions. The recommended state for this setting is: Enabled: off. Rationale: Enabling this feature sends data to Microsoft and potentially third-party extension developers, which could lead to sensitive data being exposed. Audit reads the Group Policy registry value and prints 'compliant', 'unset' (policy not configured, reported as FAIL) or the non-compliant value. Registry value: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\VSCode:TelemetryLevel (REG_SZ); compliant when it is 'off' (whitespace-insensitive). Remediation writes off locally; in a domain set it through the ADMX so Group Policy does not revert it.

How it is checked

Audit method: Windows registry

registry

$v = (Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\VSCode' -Name 'TelemetryLevel' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).'TelemetryLevel'; if ($null -eq $v) { 'unset' } elseif (($null -ne $v -and ("$v" -replace '\s','') -eq 'off')) { 'compliant' } else { "non-compliant: $v" }

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Shell command

shell

$p = 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\VSCode'; if (-not (Test-Path -Path $p)) { New-Item -Path $p -Force | Out-Null }; New-ItemProperty -Path $p -Name 'TelemetryLevel' -Value 'off' -PropertyType String -Force | Out-Null

Properties

Operating systems: Any
Tags: vscodedeveloper-toolscis-l1
Reference: CIS Visual Studio Code GPO Benchmark v1.0.0 - 1.3.2 Ensure 'TelemetryLevel' is set to 'Enabled: off'

Check this host

Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.

shell

tmaegis scan --target vscode