CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Release 1909 Benchmark

9.3 Public Profile

This section contains recommendations for the Public Profile of the Windows Firewall.

9.3.1 (L1) Ensure 'Windows Firewall: Public: Firewall state' is set to 'On (recommended)' (Scored)

ProfileApplicability:

 Level 1 (L1) - Corporate/Enterprise Environment (general use)

Description:

Select On (recommended) to have Windows Firewall with Advanced Security use the settings for this profile to filter network traffic. If you select Off, Windows Firewall with Advanced Security will not use any of the firewall rules or connection security rules for this profile.

The recommended state for this setting is: On (recommended) .

Rationale:

If the firewall is turned off all traffic will be able to access the system and an attacker may be more easily able to remotely exploit a weakness in a network service.

Audit:

Navigate to the UI Path articulated in the Remediation section and confirm it is set as prescribed. This group policy setting is backed by the following registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\PublicProfile: EnableFirewall

Remediation:

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to On (recommended):

Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Windows Firewall with Advanced Security\Windows Firewall with Advanced Security\Windows Firewall Properties\Public Profile\Firewall state

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