[REQ-PAW-131] Audit Policy: Account Logon Auditing for PAWs

Target Scope

Applicable Systems: Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs)
Operating Systems: Windows 10/11 Enterprise

Implementation Details

Priority: High
GPO Path / Registry Location:
- GPO Paths: Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Advanced Audit Policy Configuration\Audit Policies
- Subcategory: Credential Validation -> Success and Failure

Rationale

Auditing account logon events captures authentication requests processed by the local system or the workstation, which is critical for identifying Kerberoasting, NTLM relaying, and brute-force attempts.

Legacy Impact & Compatibility

Event Log Volume: Ensure the local Security Event Log is sized to at least 512MB to accommodate the audit stream.

Implementation Steps

Option A: Group Policy Object (GPO) Configuration (Preferred)

Configure Advanced Audit Policy subcategory or registry override preferences matching:
- Subcategory: Credential Validation -> Success and Failure

Option B: PowerShell & Registry Configuration (Remediation / Non-GPO)

Download Script: Configure-PawAuditAccountlogon.ps1

# Configure-PawAuditAccountlogon.ps1
Write-Host "Applying Audit Policy category: account-logon..." -ForegroundColor Cyan

# Set Audit Subcategory: Credential Validation
$Process = Start-Process auditpol -ArgumentList "/set /subcategory:`"Credential Validation`" /success:enable /failure:enable" -Wait -NoNewWindow -PassThru
if ($Process.ExitCode -eq 0) {
    Write-Host "    Enforced subcategory Credential Validation to Success and Failure" -ForegroundColor Green
} else {
    Write-Error "    Failed to configure subcategory Credential Validation. Exit Code: $($Process.ExitCode)"
}

To audit the hardening status: Download Script: Get-PawAuditAccountlogonStatus.ps1

# Get-PawAuditAccountlogonStatus.ps1
$script:Vulnerable = $false

# Audit Subcategory: Credential Validation
$RawOutput = auditpol.exe /get /subcategory:"Credential Validation" /r
if ($RawOutput -notmatch ",Credential Validation,.*,(Success and Failure|Success & Failure)") {
    $script:Vulnerable = $true
}

if ($script:Vulnerable) {
    Write-Output "Non-Compliant"
    exit 1
} else {
    Write-Output "Compliant"
    exit 0
}

Sources & Compliance References

ANSSI Active Directory Hardening Guide: Client auditing baselines
CIS Windows 10/11 Benchmark: Section 17 (Advanced Audit Policy Configuration)

REQ-PAW-131 - Audit Policy: Account Logon Auditing for PAWs