how to set permissions on a service

Question

A Nessus plugin 44676 audit scan revealed this issue: "SMB Insecurely Configured Service" Description At least one insecurely configured Windows service was detected on the remote host. Unprivileged users can modify the properties of these affected services.

An unprivileged, local attacker could exploit this to execute arbitrary commands as SYSTEM. Solution Ensure the 'Everyone' group does not have ChangeConf, WDac, or WOwn permissions. Refer to the Microsoft documentation for more information. See Also http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914392 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms685981(VS.85).aspx Output • The following service has insecure permissions for Everyone: •
• Task Scheduler (Schedule) : DC, WD, WO

I copied the security descriptor from another machine that doesn't have this issue, with sc sdshow schedule. Then I tried to set it on the affected machine with sc sdset schedule *SDDL_security_descriptor*. But when I rebooted the machine and then checked again with the sdshow, it was back to what it was before. Does anyone know how to make this work or another remediation for this finding?

Solution

I finally found the answer. The sc sdset command was working, but really unnecessary. The real cause of the issue was a Group Policy object that set the task scheduler service startup setting and permissions. It was set inappropriately and was being applied every time the machine started, of course, as it was applied to the root of the domain.

Comments

[sippybear]

What is the output of sc sdshow schedule?

[sippybear]

I would expect an output more along the lines of: D:(A;;CCLCSWLORC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPDTLOCRRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCDC‌​LCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWD‌​WO;;;SY)(A;;CCLCSWLO‌​RC;;;BU)

[Roman]

I'm sorry, I was thinking sdset. The sdshow output is: D:(A;OICI;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;WD)S:(AU;FA;CCDCLCSWR‌​PWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;‌​WD)

[Dennis Nolte]

you might want to add some details about what the command does, what are the parameter or similiar.

[asdmin]

please consider formatting you answer, because in this form it is unconsumable

[Cody Payne]

I spaced it out and added a little more punctuation but it still seems as straightforward as it gets to me.