What does NTSTATUS 0xC00A0038 (STATUS_CTX_SECURITY_LAYER_ERROR) mean?

 
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STATUS_CTX_LOGON_DISABLED STATUS_TS_INCOMPATIBLE_SESSIONS

STATUS_CTX_SECURITY_LAYER_ERROR

A protocol or protection failure caused the RDP server to disconnect the client

STATUS_CTX_SECURITY_LAYER_ERROR means that the Terminal Server security layer detected an error in the client protocol stream and disconnected the client. This is not equivalent to an incorrect username or password: the failure occurred in the RDP security/protocol handling path.

Enhanced RDP Security can use external security protocols such as TLS, CredSSP, RDSTLS, or RDS AAD authentication. The correct investigation therefore correlates the server's client IP and RDS event with the negotiated security path, certificate or credential delegation evidence, and client/gateway versions.

Useful evidence

  • Preserve the exact client IP, timestamps, RDS operational events, Schannel or CredSSP evidence where applicable, and the client build before making configuration changes.
  • Determine whether the disconnect occurred during transport/security negotiation or after authentication, using the connection sequence rather than the final user-visible error alone.
  • Do not disable TLS, Network Level Authentication, or protocol protections merely to make one connection succeed; identify the incompatible client or malformed stream first.

References


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