Devices running Windows 10 or Windows 11 operating system crash on reboot the machine after RSA MFA Agent 2.3.x for Windows is installed
2 years ago
Originally Published: 2024-03-22
Article Number
000072094
Applies To
RSA Product Set: SecurID
RSA Product/Service Type: RSA MFA Agent 2.3.x  for Windows
Agent Version/Condition: 2.2.1, 2.3.x
Issue
Issue 1:
With the release of RSA MFA Agent 2.2.1  for Windows and RSA MFA Agent 2.3.0  for Windows some customers reported operating system crashes when Windows Password Integration (WPI) is disabled and they had a third-party password management/rotation tool (e. g., Windows LAPS, Cyber Ark, etc.) installed on the agent machine. The agent goes into the WPI loop when it should not, and it was interfering with the third-party tool causing the operating system to crash.

Issue 2: 
Another cause of the operating system crash is because of the unavailability of a registry key (Local Authentication Settings) and the values inside it (especially the ones which are mentioned below).
Resolution
Resolution for Issue 1:
The issue was fixed in RSA MFA Agent 2.3.0 HF1 for Windows and later RSA MFA Agent 2.3.1 for Windows.

Resolution for Issue 2:
Before rebooting the machine and after installing RSA MFA Agent 2.3.1 for Windows, open the registry and confirm that HKLM/Software/Policies/RSA Desktop/Local Authentication Settings exists.

If it exists, ensure that the GPO policy Specify logging options is enabled on the domain controller and that the registry keys have these values:
  • EnableLogs
  • Level, Rotation
  • RotationFileSize  
Make sure that the Local Authentication Settings registry key has the value OfflineAuthentication as well.
Normally the registry key/values will get inserted/updated once you do a gpupdate /force on the agent machine. In case the gpupdate /force command fails or displays any warnings, the registry key/values may not get updated. In all cases, verify that the above-mentioned registry entries are in place before rebooting the machine to avoid crashing the operating system after installing the agent. In machines that are not connected to the domain, the local GPO policy should have the Specify logging options set to Enabled and the option to Enable offline authentication is not set to Disabled.

The above-mentioned issue will be fixed in the upcoming patch release of MFA (MFA 2.3.2).