Windows Server 2025 must be configured to audit Policy Change - Audit Policy Change failures.

Maintaining an audit trail of system activity logs can help identify configuration errors, troubleshoot service disruptions, and analyze compromises that have occurred, as well as detect attacks. Audit logs are necessary to provide a trail of evidence in case the system or network is compromised. Collecting this data is essential for analyzing the security of information assets and detecting signs of suspicious and unexpected behavior.

Audit Policy Change records events related to changes in audit policy.

Satisfies: SRG-OS-000327-GPOS-00127, SRG-OS-000458-GPOS-00203, SRG-OS-000463-GPOS-00207, SRG-OS-000468-GPOS-00212

Security Option "Audit: Force audit policy subcategory settings (Windows 7 or later) to override audit policy category settings" must be set to "Enabled" (WN25-SO-000050) for the detailed auditing subcategories to be effective.

Use the "AuditPol" tool to review the current Audit Policy configuration.

Open PowerShell or a command prompt with elevated privileges ("Run as administrator").

Enter "AuditPol /get /category:*"

Compare the "AuditPol" settings with the following.

If the system does not audit the following, this is a finding:

Policy Change >> Audit Audit Policy Change - Failure

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Advanced Audit Policy Configuration >> System Audit Policies >> Policy Change >> Audit Audit Policy Change with "Failure" selected.