Windows Security Log Event ID 4672

Operating Systems Windows 2008 R2 and 7
Windows 2012 R2 and 8.1
Windows 2016 and 10
Windows Server 2019 and 2022
Category
 • Subcategory
Logon/Logoff
 • Special Logon
Type Success
Corresponding events
in Windows 2003
and before
576  

4672: Special privileges assigned to new logon

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This event lets you know whenever an account assigned any "administrator equivalent" user rights logs on.  For instance you will see event 4672 in close proximity to logon events (4624) for administrators since administrators have most of these admin-equivalent rights. 

So, this is a useful right to detecting any "super user" account logons.  Of course this right is logged for any server or applications accounts logging on as a batch job (scheduled task) or system service.  See Logon Type: on event ID 4624.  You can correlate 4672 to 4624 by Logon ID:.

Note: "User rights" and "privileges" are synonymous terms used interchangeably in Windows.

Admin-equivalent rights are powerful authorities that allow you to circumvent other security controls in Windows.  Most admin equivalent privileges are intended for services and applications that interact closely with the operating system.  With just a few exceptions, most admin equivalent privileges neither need nor should be granted to human user accounts.

Some Microsoft documentation puts this in the "Sensitive Privilege Use / Non-Sensitive Privilege Use" subcategory. However our testing finds this in the "Special Logon" Category.

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Description Fields in 4672

Subject:

The ID and logon session of the administrator-equivalent user that just logged on.

  • Security ID:  The SID of the account.
  • Account Name: The account logon name.
  • Account Domain: The domain or - in the case of local accounts - computer name.
  • Logon ID is a semi-unique (unique between reboots) number that identifies the logon session.  Logon ID allows you to correlate backwards to the logon event (4624) as well as with other events logged during the same logon session.

Privileges:

The names of all the admin-equivalent privileges the user held at the time of logon.

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Examples of 4672

Special privileges assigned to new logon.

Subject:

Security ID:  WIN-R9H529RIO4Y\Administrator
Account Name:  Administrator
Account Domain:  WIN-R9H529RIO4Y
Logon ID:  0x4b842

Privileges:

SeSecurityPrivilege
SeTakeOwnershipPrivilege
SeLoadDriverPrivilege
SeBackupPrivilege
SeRestorePrivilege
SeDebugPrivilege
SeSystemEnvironmentPrivilege
SeImpersonatePrivilege

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