43.1 (L2) Ensure 'Disallow KMS Client Online AVS Validation' is set to 'Allow'

Information

The Key Management Service (KMS) is a Microsoft license activation method that entails setting up a local server to store the software licenses. The KMS server itself needs to connect to Microsoft to activate the KMS service, but subsequent on-network clients can activate Microsoft Windows OS and/or their Microsoft Office via the KMS server instead of connecting directly to Microsoft. This policy setting lets you opt-out of sending KMS client activation data to Microsoft automatically.

The recommended state for this setting is: Allow

Even though the KMS licensing method does not

require

KMS clients to connect to Microsoft, they still send KMS client activation state data to Microsoft automatically. Preventing this information from being sent can help reduce privacy concerns in high security environments.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via configuration profiles, set the following Settings Catalog path to Allow :

Licensing\Disallow KMS Client Online AVS Validation

Impact:

The computer is prevented from sending data to Microsoft regarding its KMS client activation state.

See Also

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

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY

References: 800-53|SI-4, CSCv7|9.2

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: ae97a8a9a2b208789b079a427aa0abe53bd28eb47c392ea3a76ac038e946fef2