Change Auditor 7.4 - Release Notes

Improved performance in reading the agent configuration.

355074

Ability to suppress the processing of user-member-of event processing with an agent configuration setting.

402521

Unable to integrate with On Demand Audit for new installations.

405040

Unexpected system reboot while auditing Active Directory databases.

405021

Agent installations are sometimes not detecting the correct server operating system and attempting to install the workstation agent.

413451

Agents can take a long time to shut down due to being blocked by other running processes.

408812

Alerts are not sent to all recipients listed in each of the To, CC and BCC fields.

419404

Change Auditor Operators group members with read-only access can alter and save shared searches.

418484

LSASS process hangs forcing a computer reboot after agent is shut down during heavy processing.

436315

Unable to import private search definition XML files using the Add-CASearch PowerShell command.

393202

Unable to import search definition XML files through the Win32 client that had been exported using PowerShell.

393207

Change Auditor client closes unexpectedly when trying to expand ADAM LDS protection templates.

393528

Improved processing of Azure events.

422884

422889

Agent deployment may fail because the MSI is temporarily locked for scanning by real-time anti-virus and anti-malware scanners.

374173

374171

Performance issues when the agent cannot resolve a UPN or NetBios name.

447034

Agent performance counters not loading properly.

415157

Latent data left in the 'dbo.TransactionAnchor' table causes an endless INSERT retry loop in the SQL database.

378623

Using the "Enterprise" scope in GPO protection templates does not properly protect newly created GPO objects.

370386

GPOADmin 5.18.0.10 and Change Auditor integration fails when GPOADmin is hosted on Windows 2019 Server and Windows 2022 Server.

445438

Actions caused by the Search-Mailbox command are not audited by Change Auditor.

6893

Change Auditor agents are not compatible with Kaspersky Endpoint Security 11.

323242

An error stating that the “Object already exists” may be encountered when attempting to create a SharePoint or SQL DLA template.

Workaround:

Delete the “Quest ChangeAuditor 5.5” key container using the following command in the CMD Prompt. A new “Quest ChangeAuditor 5.5” key container will be automatically created:

%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis –pz “Quest ChangeAuditor 5.5”

7801

Unable to restart an agent from the Statistics tab.

Workaround:

Use the Stop and Start options instead.

652516

Some web client features do not function correctly in Internet Explorer if the web client address contains an underscore.

494521

When using smartcard authentication you may receive a ‘Credentials are not valid’ error when re-connecting Change Auditor client after it has been disconnected.

Workaround:

Close and reopen the client and try to connect again.

510330

When in Active Directory Client Certificate Authentication mode, manual connection method fails if the client is in a domain that does not have a trust in place with the domain where the Change Auditor coordinator is installed. 

503383

Launching Change Auditor using a local account displays the Windows Forms Authentication login screen even if Active Directory Client Certificate Authentication is enabled.

Workaround:

Use RunAs.exe to run the client as a user who has access to the appropriate domains and can read the information in the service connection points.

503374

Upgrade fails if your previous version installation name was longer than 22 characters.

422945

The Change Auditor client sets the incorrect time when the Active Directory subsystem is added with a prompt.

420042

When the Coordinator server runs a command to insert an event, it looks for the event that matches a certain criteria and has a time detected that occurred before the current time on the Change Auditor database server.

If the agent time is ahead of the Coordinator time, alerts are not sent because of issues with the event query.

Workaround:

Update time on the servers.

422986

SQL Server tempdb. The SQL Server tempdb grows to accommodate Change Auditor queries, scheduled reports, and purge jobs. Quest recommends following Microsoft best practices regarding tempdb management, including allocating the tempdb and transaction logs on a separate drive from user database files.

Conflict with McAfee HIPS and Change Auditor agent causing server reboots: McAfee 8.0 HIPS causes the system to become unresponsive with the ServicesHook.dll which caused the server to reboot every time the Change Auditor agent started.

Workaround:

Exclude the services.exe and lsass.exe from HIPS protection.

226903

AD Protection wizard in the web client: The Web Client does not provide the right-click option from the Forest level to display Peer Domains within the AD Protection wizard.

342993

IRPStackSize issues: After an agent is upgraded on a domain controller, Quest recommends to reboot the domain controller before doing another upgrade. This removes an old ITAD driver from memory. As of Change Auditor 6.0, agents cannot be upgraded after two (2) upgrades have occurred without a reboot on domain controllers. This is to prevent the domain controller from becoming inaccessible.

To identify this condition, the DC's system log shows EventID 2011: The server's configuration parameter “irpstacksize” is too small for the server to use a local device. Increase the value of this parameter.

Running coordinator service with a service account: If you are running the coordinator service under a service account, you must move the ServicePrincipalName role holder in order for Kerberos authentication to function correctly.

See the Change Auditor Installation Guide for detailed instructions.

WHO by Group Membership: When setting up a search based on WHO is in a particular group, you must consider the time it takes for AD replication to occur and the time the Change Auditor coordinator needs to add that configuration to the coordinator.

Coordinator configuration with limited SQL account:

The Change Auditor coordinator SQL account must have access to the sys.dm_tran_locks view to resolve host names when using a SQL account with minimal permissions. If two users from two different clients select the same item in the client, one of the users will be displayed with a Change Auditor dialog message along with an “exception” notification stating “Error: 297, Procedure: usp_SQL_Lock_Read, Message: The user does not have permission to perform this action.”.

If this error is displayed, run the following SQL query:

USE Master;

GO

GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE TO {your limited SQL account};

GO

Web Client: Repeatedly switching back and forth between the grid and timeline view keeps increasing the timeline counts by the factor of the original displayed amount.

386038

Report Alerts: Report Alerting cannot be enabled through the web client.

Workaround: Enable this feature within the Windows client.

386918

Server Farm Node added event does not list the original user who added the farm node to Active Directory Federation Services server. The Active Directory Federation Services service account is listed in the WHO field.

247446

Server Farm Node added event is not audited when Active Directory Federation Services is deployed using the SQL Server database option.

248149

If a maintenance utility such as Ntdsutil.exe is used to move the Active Directory database (Ntds.dit file) to a different location, Change Auditor cannot audit or protect the Active Directory database from NinjaCopy (raw volume access) until the Change Auditor agent service is restarted.

230019

Custom Active Directory attribute auditing: If audit configurations where custom Active Directory attribute auditing are used, and a new Change Auditor database is created during installation or upgrade with the same installation name, data storage anomalies may occur. See the Upgrade and compatibility for more information.

Central Access Policy in protected GPO: Due to the way Microsoft is storing the configuration settings for a Central Access Policy, it appears that an unauthorized account can add or remove a Central Access Policy that is in a protected Group Policy container. You do not get an ‘Access is denied’ warning message explaining the change was not saved similar to what you get when attempting to access other group policy objects within the protected Group Policy container. However, unauthorized changes to the configuration settings for a Central Access Policy are not saved and generates a ‘Failed Group Policy Container Access (Change Auditor Protection)’ event within Change Auditor.

Change Auditor for EMC supports single CIFS servers per data mover: The Change Auditor agent does not audit events from another CIFS server that is under the same data mover and has the same shares as the CIFS server used in the CA for EMC policy.

Change Auditor for EMC is not compatible with EMC “CQM”: The Change Auditor for EMC agent does not support running concurrently with EMC Content Quota Management. To ensure that the EMC auditing is successful, disable EMC CQM.

Client unable to connect to EMC devices after Putty default settings changed: The Change Auditor client uses SSH APIs to connect to EMC devices. Changing the “Default Settings” saved session in the Putty client prevents the Change Auditor client from connecting to the correct server.

Workaround:

Remove any host name or IP address saved in the stored session named “Default Settings” in the Putty client.

159492

“Appointment created in shared mailbox’ event is not recorded when the appointment is auto-created.

20245

No event is recorded and an exception is logged when adding appointment to shared calendar through OWA.

20246

Service Accounts generating excessive Exchange Mailbox events: Bulk operations generated by third-party products that use MAPI transports to scan or modify Exchange mailboxes can cause system slowdowns if not excluded from auditing. Exchange internal requests are automatically excluded from monitoring, as are Blackberry Enterprise Server and similar MAPI synchronization services.

Quest recommends adding service accounts of third-party MAPI services to the Account Exclusion list, with the entire Exchange Mailbox facility selected, or with no event classes or facilities selected (indicating all events are excluded for the account).

OWA protection: If protection is enabled while a user already has an active OWA session on the newly protected mailbox, protection does not prevent the user from deleting the items in the active folder.

New OWA sessions established after protection is enabled are properly protected.

Missing Exchange event detail: Some Exchange Active Directory changes that are detected on domain controllers may be reported with missing information. To capture this detail, add the Domain Controllers group to the Exchange View-Only Administrators group.

Exchange scripting extensions: When a Change Auditor agent is deployed on Exchange Server, it automatically enables the scripting extension in Active Directory. This is a forest-wide setting and applies to ALL Exchange servers in the Exchange organization. This extension requires that the ScriptingAgentConfig.xml file be present in the Exchange Server folder; otherwise, Exchange management tools display error messages each time the Scripting Agent cmdlet runs. The Change Auditor 5.6 (or higher) agent automatically creates the required ScriptingAgentConfig.xml file in the Exchange Server folder if one is not already present. Therefore, it is highly recommended that a Change Auditor agent be installed on ALL Exchange servers to ensure that all servers are using the same scripting agent.

See these TechNet posts for more information regarding the Scripting Agent:

168683

Exchange mailbox permission changes are reported as the System account: When a user is created prior to creation of the mailbox in Exchange Server, the MMC snap-in for Active Directory Users and Computers handles changes to the user attribute msExchMailboxSecurityDescriptor directly, and “Who” information is available. After the Exchange Server actually creates the mailbox, when the first Outlook or OWA client opens it, MMC Users and Computers delegates msExchMailboxSecurityDescriptor changes to another process from which no “Who” information is available. All mailbox permission changes after this point will be generated by the server’s Local System account.

There is currently no workaround.

“Message Read by Owner/Non-Owner” events on mailbox moves: When moving user mailboxes from one message store to another in your Exchange environment, Quest recommends temporarily disabling the audit events for “Message Read by Owner/Non-Owner” in the Audit Event configurations to prevent generating large numbers of Message Read events during the move. Change Auditor is unable to differentiate those system events from normal user activity.

Auditing of non-primary email addresses is not supported: The use of alternate email addresses throughout audited modules is not supported.

366968

Resource access is blocked when agent configuration is refreshed. Note: When the agent detects that access to the filer is blocked, it disconnects itself from the filer and reconnects. This resolves the issue.

446000

For NetApp filers in cluster mode, you are unable to change the security on a file immediately after changing the file itself.

439040

For NetApp filers in cluster mode, you are unable to change security on a file from the same computer as the Change Auditor agent hosting the FPolicy server.

439038

Change Auditor for NetApp drops connection to FPolicy Server: If CIFS signing is enabled for communication between the filer and FPolicy server, the filer drops its connection to the FPolicy server with Data ONTAP 7.3.1. This happens when multiple requests are pending from the filer to the FPolicy server without getting a response for the requests sent. When the responses to the multiple requests arrive, the signing check fails due to a bug in ONTAP. Since the signing check fails, the filer turns off signing and tries to send the subsequent requests to which the server responds with an access denied error.

Workaround:

Disable signing on the FPolicy server. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887429 for the steps to turn off signing on the FPolicy server.

“Audit Add DB User” and “Audit Drop DB User” events are not always captured by SQL Server when “Create User” and “Drop User” is executed on the SQL Server and therefore will not be seen in Change Auditor.

55123

The SQL Data Level Auditing wizard may not display all valid servers when selecting the instance to audit.

Workaround:

Manually enter the server or instance name when configuring your templates.

478983

SQL Data Level does not support auditing encrypted databases.

463669

When the Event Viewer sorts the SQL Data Level logs, some events are not included and the details no longer match the records in the Event Viewer interface.

453519

The SQL Data Level event details for some object types and operations will not display the “textdata” field if the changed data exceeds the limit (16K bytes) that Change Auditor can handle.

450412

The test credentials option available in SQL Data Level auditing templates will not validate Windows Authentication credentials when the Change Auditor client is running on the SQL Server to be audited.

448942

Due to a limitation with the command used to retrieve transaction log records, data changes larger than 8000 bytes result in a truncated transaction log record. An event is still recorded with the application name, event class, who and where information but the resulting audit event may not show from and to values and text data information.

From/to values larger than 4096 characters and text data larger than 8192 characters are truncated by default for performance purposes but this limit can be customized via the registry.

446624

Modifications to SQL data columns of type TEXT, NTEXT, or IMAGE are not supported. Changes to these types may produce no events, or if an event is generated the changed values may not be recorded in the event details in Change Auditor.

449373

Unable to edit an existing Office 365 template when connected to a coordinator that was added after the template was created. In this case the Windows client will display an incorrect error message stating that an unsupported version of PowerShell is being used.

325309

Change Auditor is unable to audit Office 365 tenants operated by third-party providers. For example, Office 365 Germany and Office 365 for China use their own data centers. For more information refer to Microsoft documentation.

8267

Destination IP and Source IP will show the same value when the FQDN is specified for QRadar host in a QRadar event subscription.

23859

Integration password cannot begin with a supported special character (@ or $).

164259

When a folder is protected via location protection, access is incorrectly granted after the agent is restarted (if that folder was being accessed from a computer in the deny access list). Access will be correctly denied when the user logs off the remote computer.

418022

Change Auditor for Windows File Server agents may fail to provide origin information if remote users are already connected when the agent is initialized or started. Therefore, it is suggested that you restart the server as soon as possible after an agent installation or upgrade.

606041

If File Deleted events are enabled in the Windows File System auditing template but File Created events are not, Windows File System File Deleted event is recorded when Save As is used to create a new file.

130156

File opened events are recorded for unopened .exe files when browsing shared folder if the file does not have a custom icon.

125671

Processor

Quad core Intel Core i7 equivalent or better

Memory

Minimum: 8 GB RAM or better

Recommended: 32 GB RAM or better

SQL database supported up to the following versions

Installation platforms (x64) supported up to the following versions

Coordinator software and configuration

For the best performance, Quest strongly recommends:

In addition, the following software and configuration is required:

Coordinator footprint

User account performing the coordinator installation

The user account that is installing the coordinator requires the appropriate permissions to perform the following tasks on the target server:

Service account running the coordinator service (LocalSystem by default)

The service account running the coordinator service must have the following permissions:

SQL Server database access account specified during installation

An account must be created to be used by the coordinator server on an ongoing basis for access to the SQL Server database. This account must have a SQL Login and be assigned the following SQL permissions: