Ensure 'Create symbolic links' is set to 'Administrators'

HighLevel 1Automatedwindows

Description

This policy setting determines which users can create symbolic links. In Windows Vista, existing NTFS file system objects, such as files and folders, can be accessed by referring to a new kind of file system object called a symbolic link. A symbolic link is a pointer (much like a shortcut or .lnk file) to another file system object, which can be a file, folder, shortcut or another symbolic link. The difference between a shortcut and a symbolic link is that a shortcut only works from within the Windows shell. To other programs and applications, shortcuts are just another file, whereas with symb

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*SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege\s*=' } | Select-Object -First 1; $v = if ($line) { ($line -split '=', 2)[1].Trim().Trim('"') } else { $null }; $have = @(if ($v) { $v -split ',' | ForEach-Object { $_.Trim().TrimStart('*') } | Where-Object { $_ } }); if ((($have | Sort-Object -Unique) -join ',') -eq 'S-1-5-32-544') { 'compliant' } else { 'non-compliant: ' + ($have -join ',') }

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\Local Policies\User Rights Assignment\Create symbolic links

Properties

Operating systems: windows-10
Tags: cis-convertedseceditwindows
Reference: CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Benchmark v4.0.0 - 2.2.14

Check this host

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

shell

tmaegis scan --target windows