17.7.1 (L1) Ensure 'Audit Audit Policy Change' is set to include 'Success'

Information

This subcategory reports changes in audit policy including SACL changes. Events for this subcategory include:

- 4715: The audit policy (SACL) on an object was changed.
- 4719: System audit policy was changed.
- 4902: The Per-user audit policy table was created.
- 4904: An attempt was made to register a security event source.
- 4905: An attempt was made to unregister a security event source.
- 4906: The CrashOnAuditFail value has changed.
- 4907: Auditing settings on object were changed.
- 4908: Special Groups Logon table modified.
- 4912: Per User Audit Policy was changed.

The recommended state for this setting is include: Success

Auditing these events may be useful when investigating a security incident.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to include Success :

Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Advanced Audit Policy Configuration\Audit Policies\Policy Change\Audit Audit Policy Change

Impact:

If no audit settings are configured, or if audit settings are too lax on the computers in your organization, security incidents might not be detected or not enough evidence will be available for network forensic analysis after security incidents occur. However, if audit settings are too severe, critically important entries in the Security log may be obscured by all of the meaningless entries and computer performance and the available amount of data storage may be seriously affected. Companies that operate in certain regulated industries may have legal obligations to log certain events or activities.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/15290