This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
The auditor reads a paste. It flags a string run as code, a download, encoded content, and an execution-policy bypass. If none appear, it says the short list was not found. It does not run the script. Encoded content is something you notice, not a trick you add.
One finding. Do not execute the script during the reading. Do not add an encoded command or a download to hide a line. The script is one you are allowed to read, from a host or a repo you administer.
A URL in a download is a URL you can name, or the finding is that you cannot.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Paste a script you may read.
- Read the short list.
- Pick one finding.
- Do not run the script.
- Do not add encoding or a download.
- Stop.
Mistakes that outlive the command
PowerShell Script Security Audit Checklist goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- The script run during the reading.
- An encoded command added.
- A download added to hide a line.
- A script you are not allowed to read.
- The short list treated as a full review.
Decisions to write down
One decision for PowerShell Script Security Audit Checklist: The script is one you may read. One finding, or a clean short list. Nothing was run. No encoding was added. And no download was added.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The script name is written. One finding or a clean list is written. Nothing was run. No encoded command was added. And the URL, if any, is one you can name. If one of those fails, stop.
# The auditor does not run the script.
# Flags: a string run as code, a download, encoded content, an execution-policy bypass.
# Do not add encoding to hide a command.
# One finding.Before you leave the host
PowerShell Script Security Audit Checklist ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
Tools for this guide
These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.
Related pillar guides
More in this cluster
The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.
- Pillar: Server Hardening & Audit Guide
- Checklist: Windows Firewall Rules Audit Checklist
- Checklist: IIS Config Audit Checklist
- Checklist: Linux Server Hardening Score Audit Checklist
Companion: Security: Server Hardening Guide.