4739(S): Domain Policy was changed.
Subcategory: Audit Authentication Policy Change
Event Description:
This event generates when one of the following changes was made to local computer security policy:
Computer’s “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Account Lockout Policy” settings were modified.
Computer's “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy” settings were modified.
"Network security: Force logoff when logon hours expire" group policy setting was changed.
Domain functional level was changed or some other attributes changed (see details in event description).
Note For recommendations, see Security Monitoring Recommendations for this event.
Event XML:
- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Security-Auditing" Guid="{54849625-5478-4994-A5BA-3E3B0328C30D}" />
<EventID>4739</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>0</Level>
<Task>13569</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8020000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-10-02T00:45:37.587380900Z" />
<EventRecordID>1049781</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="500" ThreadID="1648" />
<Channel>Security</Channel>
<Computer>DC01.contoso.local</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data Name="DomainPolicyChanged">Password Policy</Data>
<Data Name="DomainName">CONTOSO</Data>
<Data Name="DomainSid">S-1-5-21-3457937927-2839227994-823803824</Data>
<Data Name="SubjectUserSid">S-1-5-18</Data>
<Data Name="SubjectUserName">DC01$</Data>
<Data Name="SubjectDomainName">CONTOSO</Data>
<Data Name="SubjectLogonId">0x3e7</Data>
<Data Name="PrivilegeList">-</Data>
<Data Name="MinPasswordAge">-</Data>
<Data Name="MaxPasswordAge">-</Data>
<Data Name="ForceLogoff">-</Data>
<Data Name="LockoutThreshold">-</Data>
<Data Name="LockoutObservationWindow">-</Data>
<Data Name="LockoutDuration">-</Data>
<Data Name="PasswordProperties">-</Data>
<Data Name="MinPasswordLength">-</Data>
<Data Name="PasswordHistoryLength">13</Data>
<Data Name="MachineAccountQuota">-</Data>
<Data Name="MixedDomainMode">-</Data>
<Data Name="DomainBehaviorVersion">-</Data>
<Data Name="OemInformation">-</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
Required Server Roles: None.
Minimum OS Version: Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista.
Event Versions: 0.
Field Descriptions:
Change Type [Type = UnicodeString]: the type of change which was made. The format is “policy_name modified”. These are some possible values of policy_name:
| Value | Group Policy Name \ Description |
|---|---|
| Lockout Policy | Computer’s “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Account Lockout Policy” settings were modified. |
| Password Policy | Computer's “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy” settings were modified. |
| Logoff Policy | "Network security: Force logoff when logon hours expire" group policy setting was changed. |
| - | Machine Account Quota (ms-DS-MachineAccountQuota) domain attribute was modified. |
Subject:
- Security ID [Type = SID]: SID of account that made a change to specific local policy. Event Viewer automatically tries to resolve SIDs and show the account name. If the SID cannot be resolved, you will see the source data in the event.
Note A security identifier (SID) is a unique value of variable length used to identify a trustee (security principal). Each account has a unique SID that is issued by an authority, such as an Active Directory domain controller, and stored in a security database. Each time a user logs on, the system retrieves the SID for that user from the database and places it in the access token for that user. The system uses the SID in the access token to identify the user in all subsequent interactions with Windows security. When a SID has been used as the unique identifier for a user or group, it cannot ever be used again to identify another user or group. For more information about SIDs, see Security identifiers.
Account Name [Type = UnicodeString]: the name of the account that made a change to specific local policy.
Account Domain [Type = UnicodeString]: subject’s domain or computer name. Formats vary, and include the following:
Domain NETBIOS name example: CONTOSO
Lowercase full domain name: contoso.local
Uppercase full domain name: CONTOSO.LOCAL
For some well-known security principals, such as LOCAL SERVICE or ANONYMOUS LOGON, the value of this field is “NT AUTHORITY”.
For local user accounts, this field will contain the name of the computer or device that this account belongs to, for example: “Win81”.
Logon ID [Type = HexInt64]: hexadecimal value that can help you correlate this event with recent events that might contain the same Logon ID, for example, “4624: An account was successfully logged on.”
Domain:
- Domain Name [Type = UnicodeString]: the name of domain for which policy changes were made.
- Domain ID [Type = SID]: the SID of domain for which policy changes were made. Event Viewer automatically tries to resolve SIDs and show the account name. If the SID cannot be resolved, you will see the source data in the event.
Changed Attributes: For attributes which were not changed the value will be “-“.
- Min. Password Age [Type = UnicodeString]: “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Minimum password age” group policy. Numeric value.
Max. Password Age [Type = UnicodeString]: “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Maximum password age” group policy. Numeric value.
Force Logoff [Type = UnicodeString]: “\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options\Network security: Force logoff when logon hours expire” group policy.
Lockout Threshold [Type = UnicodeString]: “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Account Lockout Policy\Account lockout threshold” group policy. Numeric value.
Lockout Observation Window [Type = UnicodeString]: “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Account Lockout Policy\Reset account lockout counter after” group policy. Numeric value.
Lockout Duration [Type = UnicodeString]: “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Account Lockout Policy\Account lockout duration” group policy. Numeric value.
Password Properties [Type = UnicodeString]:
| Value | Group Policy settings |
|---|---|
| 0 | \Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Store passwords using reversible encryption - Disabled. \Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Password must meet complexity requirements – Disabled. |
| 1 | \Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Store passwords using reversible encryption - Disabled. \Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Password must meet complexity requirements – Enabled. |
| 16 | \Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Store passwords using reversible encryption - Enabled. \Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Password must meet complexity requirements – Disabled. |
| 17 | \Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Store passwords using reversible encryption - Enabled. \Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Password must meet complexity requirements – Enabled. |
Min. Password Length [Type = UnicodeString]: “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Minimum password length” group policy. Numeric value.
Password History Length [Type = UnicodeString]: “\Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Enforce password history” group policy. Numeric value.
Machine Account Quota [Type = UnicodeString]: ms-DS-MachineAccountQuota domain attribute was modified. Numeric value.
Mixed Domain Mode [Type = UnicodeString]: there is no information about this field in this document.
Domain Behavior Version [Type = UnicodeString]: msDS-Behavior-Version domain attribute was modified. Numeric value. Possible values:
| Value | Identifier | Domain controller operating systems that are allowed in the domain |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | DS_BEHAVIOR_WIN2000 | Windows 2000 Server operating system Windows Server 2003 operating system Windows Server 2008 operating system Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system Windows Server 2012 operating system Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system Windows Server 2016 operating system |
| 1 | DS_BEHAVIOR_WIN2003_WITH_MIXED_DOMAINS | Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2016 |
| 2 | DS_BEHAVIOR_WIN2003 | Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2016 |
| 3 | DS_BEHAVIOR_WIN2008 | Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2016 |
| 4 | DS_BEHAVIOR_WIN2008R2 | Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2016 |
| 5 | DS_BEHAVIOR_WIN2012 | Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2016 |
| 6 | DS_BEHAVIOR_WIN2012R2 | Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2016 |
| 7 | DS_BEHAVIOR_WINTHRESHOLD | Windows Server 2016 |
- OEM Information [Type = UnicodeString]: there is no information about this field in this document.
Additional Information:
- Privileges [Type = UnicodeString]: the list of user privileges which were used during the operation, for example, SeBackupPrivilege. This parameter might not be captured in the event, and in that case appears as “-”. See full list of user privileges in the table below:
| Privilege Name | User Right Group Policy Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivilege | Replace a process-level token | Required to assign the primary token of a process. With this privilege, the user can initiate a process to replace the default token associated with a started subprocess. |
| SeAuditPrivilege | Generate security audits | With this privilege, the user can add entries to the security log. |
| SeBackupPrivilege | Back up files and directories | - Required to perform backup operations. With this privilege, the user can bypass file and directory, registry, and other persistent object permissions for the purposes of backing up the system. This privilege causes the system to grant all read access control to any file, regardless of the access control list (ACL) specified for the file. Any access request other than read is still evaluated with the ACL. The following access rights are granted if this privilege is held: READ_CONTROL ACCESS_SYSTEM_SECURITY FILE_GENERIC_READ FILE_TRAVERSE |
| SeChangeNotifyPrivilege | Bypass traverse checking | Required to receive notifications of changes to files or directories. This privilege also causes the system to skip all traversal access checks. With this privilege, the user can traverse directory trees even though the user may not have permissions on the traversed directory. This privilege does not allow the user to list the contents of a directory, only to traverse directories. |
| SeCreateGlobalPrivilege | Create global objects | Required to create named file mapping objects in the global namespace during Terminal Services sessions. |
| SeCreatePagefilePrivilege | Create a pagefile | With this privilege, the user can create and change the size of a pagefile. |
| SeCreatePermanentPrivilege | Create permanent shared objects | Required to create a permanent object. This privilege is useful to kernel-mode components that extend the object namespace. Components that are running in kernel mode already have this privilege inherently; it is not necessary to assign them the privilege. |
| SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege | Create symbolic links | Required to create a symbolic link. |
| SeCreateTokenPrivilege | Create a token object | Allows a process to create a token which it can then use to get access to any local resources when the process uses NtCreateToken() or other token-creation APIs. When a process requires this privilege, we recommend using the LocalSystem account (which already includes the privilege), rather than creating a separate user account and assigning this privilege to it. |
| SeDebugPrivilege | Debug programs | Required to debug and adjust the memory of a process owned by another account. With this privilege, the user can attach a debugger to any process or to the kernel. Developers who are debugging their own applications do not need this user right. Developers who are debugging new system components need this user right. This user right provides complete access to sensitive and critical operating system components. |
| SeEnableDelegationPrivilege | Enable computer and user accounts to be trusted for delegation | Required to mark user and computer accounts as trusted for delegation. With this privilege, the user can set the Trusted for Delegation setting on a user or computer object. The user or object that is granted this privilege must have write access to the account control flags on the user or computer object. A server process running on a computer (or under a user context) that is trusted for delegation can access resources on another computer using the delegated credentials of a client, as long as the account of the client does not have the Account cannot be delegated account control flag set. |
| SeImpersonatePrivilege | Impersonate a client after authentication | With this privilege, the user can impersonate other accounts. |
| SeIncreaseBasePriorityPrivilege | Increase scheduling priority | Required to increase the base priority of a process. With this privilege, the user can use a process with Write property access to another process to increase the execution priority assigned to the other process. A user with this privilege can change the scheduling priority of a process through the Task Manager user interface. |
| SeIncreaseQuotaPrivilege | Adjust memory quotas for a process | Required to increase the quota assigned to a process. With this privilege, the user can change the maximum memory that can be consumed by a process. |
| SeIncreaseWorkingSetPrivilege | Increase a process working set | Required to allocate more memory for applications that run in the context of users. |
| SeLoadDriverPrivilege | Load and unload device drivers | Required to load or unload a device driver. With this privilege, the user can dynamically load and unload device drivers or other code in to kernel mode. This user right does not apply to Plug and Play device drivers. |
| SeLockMemoryPrivilege | Lock pages in memory | Required to lock physical pages in memory. With this privilege, the user can use a process to keep data in physical memory, which prevents the system from paging the data to virtual memory on disk. Exercising this privilege could significantly affect system performance by decreasing the amount of available random access memory (RAM). |
| SeMachineAccountPrivilege | Add workstations to domain | With this privilege, the user can create a computer account. This privilege is valid only on domain controllers. |
| SeManageVolumePrivilege | Perform volume maintenance tasks | Required to run maintenance tasks on a volume, such as remote defragmentation. |
| SeProfileSingleProcessPrivilege | Profile single process | Required to gather profiling information for a single process. With this privilege, the user can use performance monitoring tools to monitor the performance of non-system processes. |
| SeRelabelPrivilege | Modify an object label | Required to modify the mandatory integrity level of an object. |
| SeRemoteShutdownPrivilege | Force shutdown from a remote system | Required to shut down a system using a network request. |
| SeRestorePrivilege | Restore files and directories | Required to perform restore operations. This privilege causes the system to grant all write access control to any file, regardless of the ACL specified for the file. Any access request other than write is still evaluated with the ACL. Additionally, this privilege enables you to set any valid user or group SID as the owner of a file. The following access rights are granted if this privilege is held: WRITE_DAC WRITE_OWNER ACCESS_SYSTEM_SECURITY FILE_GENERIC_WRITE FILE_ADD_FILE FILE_ADD_SUBDIRECTORY DELETE With this privilege, the user can bypass file, directory, registry, and other persistent objects permissions when restoring backed up files and directories and determines which users can set any valid security principal as the owner of an object. |
| SeSecurityPrivilege | Manage auditing and security log | Required to perform a number of security-related functions, such as controlling and viewing audit events in security event log. With this privilege, the user can specify object access auditing options for individual resources, such as files, Active Directory objects, and registry keys. A user with this privilege can also view and clear the security log. |
| SeShutdownPrivilege | Shut down the system | Required to shut down a local system. |
| SeSyncAgentPrivilege | Synchronize directory service data | This privilege enables the holder to read all objects and properties in the directory, regardless of the protection on the objects and properties. By default, it is assigned to the Administrator and LocalSystem accounts on domain controllers. With this privilege, the user can synchronize all directory service data. This is also known as Active Directory synchronization. |
| SeSystemEnvironmentPrivilege | Modify firmware environment values | Required to modify the nonvolatile RAM of systems that use this type of memory to store configuration information. |
| SeSystemProfilePrivilege | Profile system performance | Required to gather profiling information for the entire system. With this privilege, the user can use performance monitoring tools to monitor the performance of system processes. |
| SeSystemtimePrivilege | Change the system time | Required to modify the system time. With this privilege, the user can change the time and date on the internal clock of the computer. Users that are assigned this user right can affect the appearance of event logs. If the system time is changed, events that are logged will reflect this new time, not the actual time that the events occurred. |
| SeTakeOwnershipPrivilege | Take ownership of files or other objects | Required to take ownership of an object without being granted discretionary access. This privilege allows the owner value to be set only to those values that the holder may legitimately assign as the owner of an object. With this privilege, the user can take ownership of any securable object in the system, including Active Directory objects, files and folders, printers, registry keys, processes, and threads. |
| SeTcbPrivilege | Act as part of the operating system | This privilege identifies its holder as part of the trusted computer base. This user right allows a process to impersonate any user without authentication. The process can therefore gain access to the same local resources as that user. |
| SeTimeZonePrivilege | Change the time zone | Required to adjust the time zone associated with the computer's internal clock. |
| SeTrustedCredManAccessPrivilege | Access Credential Manager as a trusted caller | Required to access Credential Manager as a trusted caller. |
| SeUndockPrivilege | Remove computer from docking station | Required to undock a laptop. With this privilege, the user can undock a portable computer from its docking station without logging on. |
| SeUnsolicitedInputPrivilege | Not applicable | Required to read unsolicited input from a terminal device. |
Security Monitoring Recommendations
For 4739(S): Domain Policy was changed.
- Any settings changes to “Account Lockout Policy”, “Password Policy”, or “Network security: Force logoff when logon hours expire”, plus any domain functional level and attributes changes that are reported by this event, must be monitored and an alert should be triggered. If this change was not planned, investigate the reason for the change.