Restrict guest access to event logs
12 October 2002 by Snakefoot | Comment » | Trackback OffGuests are by default allowed to access the Event Logs of a machine(Even over the network).
The are 3 event logs on a machine Application-, Security- and System-EventLog.
To block guest access to the EventLogs set the following DWORD keys (Blocked by default on Windows XP/2003):
Note that if a service is configured to run with guest credentials, then it will not be allowed to access the EventLogs.
Note it might be possible for other accounts than the guest account to access the Event Logs if the following Multi-String (Regedt32) exists:
To block guest access to the EventLogs set the following DWORD keys (Blocked by default on Windows XP/2003):
If in a domain then the access to the eventlogs can be configured through the group policy editor. The policies can be found at Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings > Security Settings -> Event Log:[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System \CurrentControlSet \Services \EventLog \Application]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System \CurrentControlSet \Services \EventLog \System]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System \CurrentControlSet \Services \EventLog \Security]
RestrictGuestAccess = 1 (0 = Enable Guest Access, 1 = Disable Guest Access)
More info MS KB Q174074
More info MS KB Q842209
More info MS KB Q888189
- "Prevent local guests group from accessing system log" (WinXP/Win2k3) / "Restrict guest access to system log" (Win2k)
- "Prevent local guests group from accessing application log" (WinXP/Win2k3) / "Restrict guest access to application log" (Win2k)
Windows 2003 introduces a new way of controlling the access to the event logs, by using Security Descriptor Definition Language (SDDL) syntax. Where one can specify a SID along with the allowed access. More info MS KB Q323076%systemroot%\system32\config
Note that if a service is configured to run with guest credentials, then it will not be allowed to access the EventLogs.
Note it might be possible for other accounts than the guest account to access the Event Logs if the following Multi-String (Regedt32) exists:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System \CurrentControlSet \Control \SecurePipeServers \Winreg \Allowed Paths]
Machine = "System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog"
More info MS KB Q245128
More info MS KB Q268559
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Updated: 20 June 2008
Comment by C - 9 May 2006 @ 12:52 Reply
how do i restrict Read-Write (or Read for that matter) access to audit logs?