Windows Server 2025 must prevent PKU2U authentication using online identities.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-278222 | SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 | WN25-SO-000280 | SV-278222r1181372_rule | 2026-02-20 | 1 |
Description
PKU2U is a peer-to-peer authentication protocol. This setting prevents online identities from authenticating to domain-joined systems. Authentication will be centrally managed with Windows user accounts.
ℹ️ Check
If the following registry value does not exist or is not configured as specified, this is a finding:
Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Registry Path: \SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\LSA\pku2u\
Value Name: AllowOnlineID
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0x00000000 (0)
✔️ Fix
Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Local Policies >> Security Options >> Network security: Allow PKU2U authentication requests to this computer to use online identities to "Disabled".