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Windows 2000 Account Operators Can Manage Their Own Accounts

Article ID: 327709 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q327709

SYMPTOMS

In Windows 2000, account operators can manage their own accounts or the accounts of other account operators. In Windows NT 4.0, account operators cannot do this.

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CAUSE

Windows 2000 does not protect members of the Account Operators group from modifying their own account or the accounts of other account operators.

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RESOLUTION

Service Pack Information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/260910/EN-US/ )

How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

Hotfix Information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

(http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support)

Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language. The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date         Time   Version        Size     File name
   --------------------------------------------------------
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5781  123,664  Adsldp.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5781  131,344  Adsldpc.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5781   62,736  Adsmsext.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.6033  358,160  Advapi32.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5855   49,424  Browser.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.6012  135,952  Dnsapi.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.6012   96,016  Dnsrslvr.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5722   45,328  Eventlog.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.6048  146,704  Kdcsvc.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:18  5.0.2195.6048  200,976  Kerberos.dll
   21-Aug-2002  05:27  5.0.2195.6023   71,248  Ksecdd.sys
   22-Jul-2002  12:54  5.0.2195.5960  507,152  lsasrv.dll
   22-Jul-2002  12:54  5.0.2195.5960   33,552  lsass.exe
   27-Aug-2002  11:53  5.0.2195.6034  108,816  Msv1_0.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5979  307,472  Netapi32.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5966  360,720  Netlogon.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.6048  918,800  Ntdsa.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.6025  389,392  Samsrv.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5951  129,296  Scecli.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5951  302,864  Scesrv.dll
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.5859   48,912  W32time.dll
   04-Jun-2002  10:32  5.0.2195.5859   57,104  W32tm.exe
   05-Sep-2002  14:47  5.0.2195.6043  125,712  Wldap32.dll

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WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, follow these steps:

Change the access control list (ACL) settings for the Account Operators group to prevent account operators from modifying group membership. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Log on as a member of the Administrators group.
2. Start the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in (dsa.msc).
3. On the View menu, click Advanced Features.
4. Under the Builtin container for the domain, right-click the Account Operators object, and then click Properties.
5. Click the Security tab in Account Operators Properties, select the Account Operators group, and then click Remove.
Prevent account operators from modifying the attributes of other account operators. To do this, follow these steps:
1. In the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, right-click the container for the domain (for example, ACME.COM) , point to New, and then click Organizational Unit. Name the new organizational unit AcctOps.
2. Right-click the AcctOps organizational unit, and then click Properties.
3. In AcctOps Properties, click the Security tab, select the Account Operators group, and then click to select the Deny check box next to the Full Control permission.
  
  If you want to apply the same restrictions to members of the Print Operators group, on the Security tab, select the Account Operators group, and then click to select the Deny check box next to the Full Control permission.
4. Move all users who are members of the Account Operators group into the new AcctOps organizational unit. To move a user, right-click the user object that you want, click Move, and then select the AcctOps organizational unit.

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.

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MORE INFORMATION

The hotfix that is described in this article makes the following changes:

One time per hour, the Windows 2000 primary domain controller (PDC) compares the ACL for the user accounts that are in protected groups (for example, Administrators or Account Operators ) to the ACL for the AdminSDHolder object. If the ACLs do not match, the security settings for the AdminSDHolder object overwrite the ACL and turn off ACL inheritance for the user object. This prevents an unauthorized user from modifying user accounts if the accounts are moved to a container or organizational unit in which the unauthorized user has the right to modify user accounts.
When you remove a user from a protected group, the user account retains the settings that it received from the AdminSDHolder object, and you must manually change the security settings for that user.

Note: After you apply the hotfix, you must wait as long as one hour for the security descriptors to be updated for existing members of the Account Operators group.

For additional information about Windows 2000 security settings, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

217050

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/217050/EN-US/ )

Description of Default Security Settings in Windows 2000

For additional information about account operators access rights, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

245174

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245174/EN-US/ )

Members of Account Operators Group Cannot Manage All User Accounts

For additional information about how to obtain a hotfix for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

265173

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/265173/EN-US/ )

The Datacenter Program and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Product

For additional information about how to install multiple hotfixes with only one reboot, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

296861

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/296861/EN-US/ )

Use QChain.exe to Install Multiple Hotfixes with Only One Reboot

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