45.29 (L1) Ensure 'User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators' is set to 'Prompt for consent on the secure desktop' or higher

Information

This policy setting controls the behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators.

The recommended state for this setting is: Prompt for consent on the secure desktop Configuring this setting to Prompt for credentials on the secure desktop also conforms to the benchmark.

One of the risks that the UAC feature introduced with Windows Vista is trying to mitigate is that of malicious software running under elevated credentials without the user or administrator being aware of its activity. This setting raises awareness to the administrator of elevated privilege operations and permits the administrator to prevent a malicious program from elevating its privilege when the program attempts to do so.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via configuration profiles, set the following Settings Catalog path to Prompt for consent on the secure desktop or Prompt for credentials on the secure desktop :

Local Policies Security Options\User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators

Impact:

When an operation (including execution of a Windows binary) requires elevation of privilege, the user is prompted on the secure desktop to select either Permit or Deny. If the user selects Permit, the operation continues with the user's highest available privilege.

Warning:

Windows Autopilot - Policy Conflicts

: This policy requires a reboot to apply. As a result, prompts may appear when modifying user account control (UAC) settings during the Out of the Box Experience (OOBE) using the device Enrollment Status Page (ESP). Increased prompts are more likely if the device reboots after policies are applied. To work around this issue, the policies can be targeted to users instead of devices so that they apply later in the process. An exception to this recommendation may be needed if Windows AutoPilot is used.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/16852

Item Details

Category: ACCESS CONTROL

References: 800-53|AC-6(1)

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: e5493e2fc7383d94b2250bc3ed1a260fc4c4d0a912313958550e43d6653d0ed6