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V-278181

CAT II (Medium)

Windows Server 2025 must limit the caching of logon credentials to four or less on domain-joined member servers.

Rule ID

SV-278181r1182288_rule

STIG

Microsoft Windows Server 2025 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R1

CCIs

CCI-000366

Discussion

The default Windows configuration caches the last logon credentials for users who log on interactively to a system. This feature is provided for system availability reasons, such as the user's machine being disconnected from the network or domain controllers being unavailable. Even though the credential cache is well protected, if a system is attacked, an unauthorized individual may isolate the password to a domain user account using a password-cracking program and gain access to the domain.

Check Content

This applies to member servers. For domain controllers and stand-alone or nondomain-joined systems, this is not applicable.

If the following registry value does not exist or is not configured as specified, this is a finding:

Registry HiveHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Registry Path\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\

Value NameCachedLogonsCount

Value TypeREG_SZ
Value4 (or less)

Fix Text

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Local Policies >> Security Options >> Interactive Logon: Number of previous logons to cache (in case Domain Controller is not available) to "4" logons or less.