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 flags RemoteAddress=Any, local port 445, and an Allow action. If none of those are in the paste, it says no item from the short list was found, and that this page does not change the firewall.
Do not open port 445 to every address. Do not turn the firewall off. One computer you administer. Do not change a rule during the reading.
192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.
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 one rule you hold.
- Read each finding.
- Leave the firewall on.
- Do not change the rule.
- Stop.
Mistakes that outlive the command
Windows Firewall Rules Audit Checklist goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- Port 445 opened to every address.
- The firewall turned off.
- A rule changed during the reading.
- A computer you do not administer.
Decisions to write down
One decision for Windows Firewall Rules Audit Checklist: The short list was read. The firewall stays on. Nothing was changed. And the computer is yours.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The rule is identified. Findings or the empty result are written. The firewall stays on. Nothing was changed. And the computer is yours. If one of those fails, stop.
# Any remote address, port 445, or Allow.
# This page does not change the firewall.
# Do not turn the firewall off.Before you leave the host
Windows Firewall Rules 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: IIS Config Audit Checklist
- Checklist: Linux Server Hardening Score Audit Checklist
- Checklist: sshd_config Audit Checklist
Companion: Security: Server Hardening Guide.