Ensure 'Account lockout duration' is set to '15 or more minute(s)'

HighLevel 1Automatedwindows

Description

This policy setting determines the length of time that must pass before a locked account is unlocked and a user can try to log on again. The setting does this by specifying the number of minutes a locked out account will remain unavailable. If the value for this policy setting is configured to 0, locked out accounts will remain locked out until an administrator manually unlocks them. Although it might seem like a good idea to configure the value for this policy setting to a high value, such a configuration will likely increase the number of calls that the help desk receives to unlock accounts

How it is checked

Audit method: Shell command

shell

$f = Join-Path $env:TEMP ('tmaegis-' + [guid]::NewGuid().ToString() + '.inf'); secedit /export /cfg $f /areas SECURITYPOLICY USER_RIGHTS /quiet | Out-Null; $c = Get-Content $f -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; Remove-Item $f -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; $line = $c | Where-Object { $_ -match '^\s*LockoutDuration\s*=' } | Select-Object -First 1; $v = if ($line) { ($line -split '=', 2)[1].Trim().Trim('"') } else { $null }; if (($null -ne $v -and [int64]$v -ge 15)) { 'compliant' } else { 'non-compliant: ' + $v }

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

Set through Group Policy (domain policy for domain members): Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Account Policies\Account Lockout Policy\Account lockout duration

Properties

Operating systems: windows-10
Tags: cis-convertedseceditwindows
Reference: CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Benchmark v4.0.0 - 1.2.1

Check this host

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

shell

tmaegis scan --target windows