windows-itpro-docs/windows/security/threat-protection/microsoft-defender-atp/customize-exploit-protection.md

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Enable or disable specific mitigations used by Exploit protection	Exploit protection, mitigations, enable, powershell, dep, cfg, emet, aslr	You can enable individual mitigations using the Windows Security app or PowerShell. You can also audit mitigations and export configurations.	eADQiWindows 10XVcnh	security	w10	manage	library	security	medium	ITPro	levinec	ellevin	03/26/2019		dansimp

Customize exploit protection

Applies to:

• Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Microsoft Defender ATP)

Exploit protection automatically applies a number of exploit mitigation techniques on both the operating system processes and on individual apps.

You configure these settings using the Windows Security app on an individual machine, and then export the configuration as an XML file that you can deploy to other machines. You can use Group Policy to distribute the XML file to multiple devices at once. You can also configure the mitigations with PowerShell.

This topic lists each of the mitigations available in exploit protection, indicates whether the mitigation can be applied system-wide or to individual apps, and provides a brief description of how the mitigation works.

It also describes how to enable or configure the mitigations using Windows Security, PowerShell, and MDM CSPs. This is the first step in creating a configuration that you can deploy across your network. The next step involves generating or exporting, importing, and deploying the configuration to multiple devices.

Warning

Some security mitigation technologies may have compatibility issues with some applications. You should test exploit protection in all target use scenarios by using audit mode before deploying the configuration across a production environment or the rest of your network.

Exploit protection mitigations

All mitigations can be configured for individual apps. Some mitigations can also be applied at the operating system level.

You can set each of the mitigations to on, off, or to their default value. Some mitigations have additional options, these are indicated in the description in the table.

Default values are always specified in brackets at the Use default option for each mitigation. In the following example, the default for Data Execution Prevention is "On".

The Use default configuration for each of the mitigation settings indicates our recommendation for a base level of protection for everyday usage for home users. Enterprise deployments should consider the protection required for their individual needs and may need to modify configuration away from the defaults.

For the associated PowerShell cmdlets for each mitigation, see the PowerShell reference table at the bottom of this topic.

Mitigation	Description	Can be applied to	Audit mode available
Control flow guard (CFG)	Ensures control flow integrity for indirect calls. Can optionally suppress exports and use strict CFG.	System and app-level	[!includeCheck mark no]
Data Execution Prevention (DEP)	Prevents code from being run from data-only memory pages such as the heap and stacks. Only configurable for 32-bit (x86) apps, permanently enabled for all other architectures. Can optionally enable ATL thunk emulation.	System and app-level	[!includeCheck mark no]
Force randomization for images (Mandatory ASLR)	Forcibly relocates images not compiled with /DYNAMICBASE. Can optionally fail loading images that don't have relocation information.	System and app-level	[!includeCheck mark no]
Randomize memory allocations (Bottom-Up ASLR)	Randomizes locations for virtual memory allocations including those for system structures heaps, stacks, TEBs, and PEBs. Can optionally use a wider randomization variance for 64-bit processes.	System and app-level	[!includeCheck mark no]
Validate exception chains (SEHOP)	Ensures the integrity of an exception chain during exception dispatch. Only configurable for 32-bit (x86) applications.	System and app-level	[!includeCheck mark no]
Validate heap integrity	Terminates a process when heap corruption is detected.	System and app-level	[!includeCheck mark no]
Arbitrary code guard (ACG)	Prevents the introduction of non-image-backed executable code and prevents code pages from being modified. Can optionally allow thread opt-out and allow remote downgrade (configurable only with PowerShell).	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark yes]
Block low integrity images	Prevents the loading of images marked with Low Integrity.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark yes]
Block remote images	Prevents loading of images from remote devices.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark no]
Block untrusted fonts	Prevents loading any GDI-based fonts not installed in the system fonts directory, notably fonts from the web.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark yes]
Code integrity guard	Restricts loading of images signed by Microsoft, WHQL, or higher. Can optionally allow Microsoft Store signed images.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark yes]
Disable extension points	Disables various extensibility mechanisms that allow DLL injection into all processes, such as AppInit DLLs, window hooks, and Winsock service providers.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark no]
Disable Win32k system calls	Prevents an app from using the Win32k system call table.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark yes]
Do not allow child processes	Prevents an app from creating child processes.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark yes]
Export address filtering (EAF)	Detects dangerous operations being resolved by malicious code. Can optionally validate access by modules commonly used by exploits.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark no]
Import address filtering (IAF)	Detects dangerous operations being resolved by malicious code.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark no]
Simulate execution (SimExec)	Ensures that calls to sensitive APIs return to legitimate callers. Only configurable for 32-bit (x86) applications. Not compatible with ACG	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark no]
Validate API invocation (CallerCheck)	Ensures that sensitive APIs are invoked by legitimate callers. Only configurable for 32-bit (x86) applications. Not compatible with ACG	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark no]
Validate handle usage	Causes an exception to be raised on any invalid handle references.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark no]
Validate image dependency integrity	Enforces code signing for Windows image dependency loading.	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark no]
Validate stack integrity (StackPivot)	Ensures that the stack has not been redirected for sensitive APIs. Not compatible with ACG	App-level only	[!includeCheck mark no]

Important

If you add an app to the Program settings section and configure individual mitigation settings there, they will be honored above the configuration for the same mitigations specified in the System settings section. The following matrix and examples help to illustrate how defaults work:

Enabled in Program settings	Enabled in System settings	Behavior
[!includeCheck mark yes]	[!includeCheck mark no]	As defined in Program settings
[!includeCheck mark yes]	[!includeCheck mark yes]	As defined in Program settings
[!includeCheck mark no]	[!includeCheck mark yes]	As defined in System settings
[!includeCheck mark no]	[!includeCheck mark yes]	Default as defined in Use default option

• Example 1

  Mikael configures Data Execution Prevention (DEP) in the System settings section to be Off by default.

  Mikael then adds the app test.exe to the Program settings section. In the options for that app, under Data Execution Prevention (DEP), he enables the Override system settings option and sets the switch to On. There are no other apps listed in the Program settings section.

The result will be that DEP only will be enabled for test.exe. All other apps will not have DEP applied.

• Example 2

  Josie configures Data Execution Prevention (DEP) in the System settings section to be Off by default.

  Josie then adds the app test.exe to the Program settings section. In the options for that app, under Data Execution Prevention (DEP), she enables the Override system settings option and sets the switch to On.

  Josie also adds the app miles.exe to the Program settings section and configures Control flow guard (CFG) to On. She doesn't enable the Override system settings option for DEP or any other mitigations for that app.

The result will be that DEP will be enabled for test.exe. DEP will not be enabled for any other app, including miles.exe. CFG will be enabled for miles.exe.

Note

If you have found any issues in this article, you can report it directly to a Windows Server/Windows Client partner or use the Microsoft technical support numbers for your country.

Configure system-level mitigations with the Windows Security app

1. Open the Windows Security app by clicking the shield icon in the task bar or searching the start menu for Defender.

2. Click the App & browser control tile (or the app icon on the left menu bar) and then click Exploit protection.

3. Under the System settings section, find the mitigation you want to configure and select one of the following. Apps that aren't configured individually in the Program settings section will use the settings configured here:

   • On by default - The mitigation is enabled for apps that don't have this mitigation set in the app-specific Program settings section

   • Off by default - The mitigation is disabled for apps that don't have this mitigation set in the app-specific Program settings section

   • Use default - The mitigation is either enabled or disabled, depending on the default configuration that is set up by Windows 10 installation; the default value (On or Off) is always specified next to the Use default label for each mitigation

     Note

     You may see a User Account Control window when changing some settings. Enter administrator credentials to apply the setting.

     Changing some settings may require a restart.

4. Repeat this for all the system-level mitigations you want to configure.

5. Go to the Program settings section and choose the app you want to apply mitigations to:

   1. If the app you want to configure is already listed, click it and then click Edit
   2. If the app is not listed, at the top of the list click Add program to customize and then choose how you want to add the app:
      • Use Add by program name to have the mitigation applied to any running process with that name. You must specify a file with an extension. You can enter a full path to limit the mitigation to only the app with that name in that location.
      • Use Choose exact file path to use a standard Windows Explorer file picker window to find and select the file you want.

6. After selecting the app, you'll see a list of all the mitigations that can be applied. To enable the mitigation, click the check box and then change the slider to On. Select any additional options. Choosing Audit will apply the mitigation in audit mode only. You will be notified if you need to restart the process or app, or if you need to restart Windows.

7. Repeat this for all the apps and mitigations you want to configure. Click Apply when you're done setting up your configuration.

You can now export these settings as an XML file or continue on to configure app-specific mitigations.

Exporting the configuration as an XML file allows you to copy the configuration from one machine onto other machines.

PowerShell reference

You can use the Windows Security app to configure Exploit protection, or you can use PowerShell cmdlets.

The configuration settings that were most recently modified will always be applied - regardless of whether you use PowerShell or Windows Security. This means that if you use the app to configure a mitigation, then use PowerShell to configure the same mitigation, the app will update to show the changes you made with PowerShell. If you were to then use the app to change the mitigation again, that change would apply.

Important

Any changes that are deployed to a machine through Group Policy will override the local configuration. When setting up an initial configuration, use a machine that will not have a Group Policy configuration applied to ensure your changes aren't overridden.

You can use the PowerShell verb Get or Set with the cmdlet ProcessMitigation. Using Get will list the current configuration status of any mitigations that have been enabled on the device - add the -Name cmdlet and app exe to see mitigations for just that app:

Get-ProcessMitigation -Name processName.exe

Important

System-level mitigations that have not been configured will show a status of NOTSET.

For system-level settings, NOTSET indicates the default setting for that mitigation has been applied.

For app-level settings, NOTSET indicates the system-level setting for the mitigation will be applied.

The default setting for each system-level mitigation can be seen in the Windows Security.

Use Set to configure each mitigation in the following format:

Set-ProcessMitigation -<scope> <app executable> -<action> <mitigation or options>,<mitigation or options>,<mitigation or options>

Where:

• <Scope>:
  • -Name to indicate the mitigations should be applied to a specific app. Specify the app's executable after this flag.
  • -System to indicate the mitigation should be applied at the system level

• <Action>:
  • -Enable to enable the mitigation
  • -Disable to disable the mitigation

• <Mitigation>:

  • The mitigation's cmdlet as defined in the mitigation cmdlets table below, along with any suboptions (surrounded with spaces). Each mitigation is separated with a comma.

  For example, to enable the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) mitigation with ATL thunk emulation and for an executable called testing.exe in the folder C:\Apps\LOB\tests, and to prevent that executable from creating child processes, you'd use the following command:

  Set-ProcessMitigation -Name c:\apps\lob\tests\testing.exe -Enable DEP, EmulateAtlThunks, DisallowChildProcessCreation
  

  Important

  Separate each mitigation option with commas.

  If you wanted to apply DEP at the system level, you'd use the following command:

  Set-Processmitigation -System -Enable DEP
  

  To disable mitigations, you can replace -Enable with -Disable. However, for app-level mitigations, this will force the mitigation to be disabled only for that app.

  If you need to restore the mitigation back to the system default, you need to include the -Remove cmdlet as well, as in the following example:

  Set-Processmitigation -Name test.exe -Remove -Disable DEP
  

You can also set some mitigations to audit mode. Instead of using the PowerShell cmdlet for the mitigation, use the Audit mode cmdlet as specified in the mitigation cmdlets table below.

For example, to enable Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG) in audit mode for the testing.exe used in the example above, you'd use the following command:

Set-ProcessMitigation -Name c:\apps\lob\tests\testing.exe -Enable AuditDynamicCode

You can disable audit mode by using the same command but replacing -Enable with -Disable.

PowerShell reference table

This table lists the PowerShell cmdlets (and associated audit mode cmdlet) that can be used to configure each mitigation.

Mitigation | Applies to | PowerShell cmdlets | Audit mode cmdlet

• | - | - | - Control flow guard (CFG) | System and app-level | CFG, StrictCFG, SuppressExports | Audit not available Data Execution Prevention (DEP) | System and app-level | DEP, EmulateAtlThunks | Audit not available Force randomization for images (Mandatory ASLR) | System and app-level | ForceRelocateImages | Audit not available Randomize memory allocations (Bottom-Up ASLR) | System and app-level | BottomUp, HighEntropy | Audit not available Validate exception chains (SEHOP) | System and app-level | SEHOP, SEHOPTelemetry | Audit not available Validate heap integrity | System and app-level | TerminateOnError | Audit not available Arbitrary code guard (ACG) | App-level only | DynamicCode | AuditDynamicCode Block low integrity images | App-level only | BlockLowLabel | AuditImageLoad Block remote images | App-level only | BlockRemoteImages | Audit not available Block untrusted fonts | App-level only | DisableNonSystemFonts | AuditFont, FontAuditOnly Code integrity guard | App-level only | BlockNonMicrosoftSigned, AllowStoreSigned | AuditMicrosoftSigned, AuditStoreSigned Disable extension points | App-level only | ExtensionPoint | Audit not available Disable Win32k system calls | App-level only | DisableWin32kSystemCalls | AuditSystemCall Do not allow child processes | App-level only | DisallowChildProcessCreation | AuditChildProcess Export address filtering (EAF) | App-level only | EnableExportAddressFilterPlus, EnableExportAddressFilter [1] | Audit not available Import address filtering (IAF) | App-level only | EnableImportAddressFilter | Audit not available Simulate execution (SimExec) | App-level only | EnableRopSimExec | Audit not available Validate API invocation (CallerCheck) | App-level only | EnableRopCallerCheck | Audit not available Validate handle usage | App-level only | StrictHandle | Audit not available Validate image dependency integrity | App-level only | EnforceModuleDepencySigning | Audit not available Validate stack integrity (StackPivot) | App-level only | EnableRopStackPivot | Audit not available

[1]: Use the following format to enable EAF modules for dlls for a process:

Set-ProcessMitigation -Name processName.exe -Enable EnableExportAddressFilterPlus -EAFModules dllName1.dll,dllName2.dll

Customize the notification

See the Windows Security topic for more information about customizing the notification when a rule is triggered and blocks an app or file.

Related topics

• Protect devices from exploits
• Comparison with Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit
• Evaluate exploit protection
• Enable exploit protection
• Import, export, and deploy exploit protection configurations