3.11.56.1 (L2) Ensure 'Allow Remote Shell Access' is set to 'Disabled'

Information

This policy setting allows you to manage configuration of remote access to all supported shells to execute scripts and commands.

The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled

Note: The GPME help text for this setting is incorrectly worded, implying that configuring it to Enabled will reject new Remote Shell connections, and setting it to Disabled will allow Remote Shell connections. The opposite is true (and is consistent with the title of the setting). This is a wording mistake by Microsoft in the Administrative Template.

Any feature is a potential avenue of attack, those that enable inbound network connections are particularly risky. Only enable the use of the Windows Remote Shell on trusted networks and when feasible employ additional controls such as IPsec.

Solution

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

Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Remote Shell\Allow Remote Shell Access

Impact:

New Remote Shell connections are not allowed and are rejected by the workstation.

See Also

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

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6, 800-53|CM-7, CSCv7|9.2

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: e29b54b00f96df11eb64cde815cd86da482709f6d8131828fd7113ae8331755f