1.1.1.2.1.64 Set 'Audit: Audit the access of global system objects' to 'Disabled'

Information

This policy setting creates a default system access control list (SACL) for system objects such as mutexes (mutual exclusive), events, semaphores, and MS-DOS devices, and causes access to these system objects to be audited. If the Audit: Audit the access of global system objects setting is enabled, a very large number of security events could quickly fill the Security event log. A globally visible named object, if incorrectly secured, could be acted upon by malicious software that knows the name of the object. For instance, if a synchronization object such as a mutex had a poorly chosen discretionary access control list (DACL), then malicious software could access that mutex by name and cause the program that created it to malfunction. However, the risk of such an occurrence is very low.

Solution

To implement the recommended configuration state, set the following Group Policy setting to 0.

Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options\Audit- Audit the access of global system objects

Impact- If you enable the Audit- Audit the access of global system objects setting, a large number of security events could be generated, especially on busy domain controllers and application servers. Such an occurrence could cause servers to respond slowly and force the Security log to record numerous events of little significance. This policy setting can only be enabled or disabled, and there is no way to choose which events are recorded. Even organizations that have the resources to analyze events that are generated by this policy setting would not likely have the source code or a description of what each named object is used for. Therefore, it is unlikely that many organizations could benefit by enabling this policy setting.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/42

Item Details

Category: AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

References: 800-53|AU-12, CCE|CCE-3774-7

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: d7d9e6114cb073019c5750aa3d9e0c918406dd062c34bdb57a712fb1f48a80d1