Details

Some non-Microsoft SMB servers only support unencrypted (plain text) password authentication. Sending plain text passwords across the network, when authenticating to an SMB server, reduces the overall security of the environment. Check with the Vendor of the SMB server to see if there is a way to support encrypted password authentication.

Solution

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Local Policies >> Security Options >> ‘Microsoft Network Client- Send unencrypted password to third-party SMB servers’ to ‘Disabled’.

Supportive Information

The following resource is also helpful.

• http://iasecontent.disa.mil/stigs/zip/Oct2016/U_Windows_Vista_V6R41_STIG.zip

This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: Identification and Authentication.This control applies to the following type of system Windows.

References

• 800-53|IA-5(1)(c)
• CAT|II
• CCI|CCI-000197
• CSCv6|13
• Rule-ID|SV-29003r2_rule
• STIG-ID|3.034
• Vuln-ID|V-1141

Source

• Tenable.com/audits