Attack surface reduction frequently asked questions (FAQ) (Microsoft)

ASR was originally a feature of the suite of exploit guard features introduced as a major update to Microsoft Defender Antivirus, in Windows 10, version 1709. Microsoft Defender Antivirus is the native antimalware component of Windows. However, the full ASR feature-set is only available with a Windows enterprise license. Also note that ASR rule exclusions are managed separately from Microsoft Defender Antivirus exclusions.

The full set of ASR rules and features is only supported if you have an enterprise license for Windows 10 or Windows 11. A limited number of rules may work without an enterprise license. If you have Microsoft 365 Business, set Microsoft Defender Antivirus as your primary security solution, and enable the rules through PowerShell. Using ASR without an enterprise license isn’t officially supported and you won’t be able to use the full capabilities of ASR.

To learn more about Windows licensing, see Windows 10 Licensing and get the Volume Licensing guide for Windows 10.

Yes. ASR is supported for Windows Enterprise E3 and above.

All of the rules supported with E3 are also supported with E5.

E5 adds greater integration with Defender for Endpoint. With E5, you can view alerts in real-time, fine-tune rule exclusions, configure ASR rules, and view lists of event reports.

ASR currently supports all of the rules below.

To help you figure out what’s best for your environment, we recommended that you enable ASR rules in audit mode. With this approach, you’ll determine the possible affect to your organization. For example, your line-of-business applications.

For ASR rules, if you add one exclusion, it will affect every ASR rule.

ASR rules exclusions support wildcards, paths, and environmental variables. For more information on how to use wildcards in ASR rules, see configure and validate exclusions based on file extension and folder location.

Be aware of the following items about ASR rules exclusions (including wildcards and env. variables):

• ASR rules exclusions are independent from Microsoft Defender Antivirus exclusions
• Wildcards cannot be used to define a drive letter
• If you want to exclude more than one folder, in a path, use multiple instances of *\ to indicate multiple nested folders (for example, c:\Folder**\Test)
• Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager does not support wildcards (* or ?)
• If you want to exclude a file, that contains random characters (automated file generation), you can use the ‘?’ symbol (for example, C:\Folder\fileversion?.docx)
• ASR exclusions in Group Policy don’t support quotes (the engine will natively handle long path, spaces, etc., so there’s no need to use quotes)
• ASR rules run under NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account, so environmental variables are limited to machine variables.

Different ASR rules will have different protection flows. Always think about what the ASR rule you are configuring protects against, and how the actual execution flow pans out.

Example: Block credential stealing from the Windows local security authority subsystem Reading directly from Local Security Authority Subsystem (LSASS) process can be a security risk, since it might expose corporate credentials.

This rule prevents untrusted processes from having direct access to LSASS memory. Whenever a process tries to use the OpenProcess() function to access LSASS, with an access right of PROCESS_VM_READ, the rule will specifically block that access right.

Looking at the above example, if you really had to create an exception for the process that the access right was blocked, adding the filename along with full path would exclude it from being blocked and after allowed to access LSASS process memory. The value of 0 means that ASR rules will ignore this file/process and not block/audit it.

We recommend enabling every possible rule. However, there are some cases where you shouldn’t enable a rule. For example, we don’t recommend enabling the Block process creations originating from PSExec and WMI commands rule, if you’re using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (or, System Center Configuration Manager – SCCM) to manage your endpoints.

We highly recommend you that you read each rule-specific information and/or warnings, which are available in our public documentation. spanning across multiple pillars of protection, like Office, Credentials, Scripts, E-Mail, etc. All ASR rules, except for Block persistence through WMI event subscription, are supported on Windows 1709 and later:

• Block abuse of exploited vulnerable signed drivers
• Block executable content from email client and webmail
• Block all Office applications from creating child processes
• Block Office applications from creating executable content
• Block Office applications from injecting code into other processes
• Block JavaScript or VBScript from launching downloaded executable content
• Block execution of potentially obfuscated scripts
• Block Win32 API calls from Office macro
• Use advanced protection against ransomware
• Block credential stealing from the Windows local security authority subsystem (lsass.exe)
• Block process creations originating from PSExec and WMI commands
• Block untrusted and unsigned processes that run from USB
• Block executable files from running unless they meet a prevalence, age, or trusted list criteria
• Block Office communication applications from creating child processes
• Block Adobe Reader from creating child processes
• Block persistence through WMI event subscription

Test how ASR rules will impact your organization before enabling them by running ASR rules in audit mode for a brief period of time. While you are running the rules in audit mode, you can identify any line-of-business applications that might get blocked erroneously, and exclude them from ASR.

Larger organizations should consider rolling out ASR rules in “rings,” by auditing and enabling rules in increasingly broader subsets of devices. You can arrange your organization’s devices into rings by using Intune or a Group Policy management tool.

Keep the rule in audit mode for about 30 days to get a good baseline for how the rule will operate once it goes live throughout your organization. During the audit period, you can identify any line-of-business applications that might get blocked by the rule, and configure the rule to exclude them.

In most cases, it’s easier and better to start with the baseline recommendations suggested by Defender for Endpoint than to attempt to import rules from another security solution. Then, use tools such as audit mode, monitoring, and analytics to configure your new solution to suit your unique needs.

The default configuration for most ASR rules, combined with Defender for Endpoint’s real-time protection, will protect against a large number of exploits and vulnerabilities.

From within Defender for Endpoint, you can update your defenses with custom indicators, to allow and block certain software behaviors. ASR also allows for some customization of rules, in the form of file and folder exclusions. As a general rule, it is best to audit a rule for a period of time, and configure exclusions for any line-of-business applications that might get blocked.

Yes. See Excluding files and folders from ASR rules for more details on excluding files or folders from ASR rules, and Configure and validate exclusions based on file extension and folder location for more on using system variables and wildcards in excluded file paths.

It depends on the rule. Most ASR rules cover the behavior of Microsoft Office products and services, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, or Outlook. Certain ASR rules, such as Block execution of potentially obfuscated scripts, are more general in scope.

ASR uses Microsoft Defender Antivirus to block applications. It is not possible to configure ASR to use another security solution for blocking at this time.

Whenever a notification is triggered locally by an ASR rule, a report on the event is also sent to the Defender for Endpoint portal. If you’re having trouble finding the event, you can filter the events timeline using the search box. You can also view ASR events by visiting Go to attack surface management, from the Configuration management icon in the Defender for Cloud taskbar. The attack surface management page includes a tab for report detections, which includes a full list of ASR rule events reported to Defender for Endpoint.

Try opening the indexing options directly from Windows 10 or Windows 11.

1. Select the Search icon on the Windows taskbar.
2. Enter Indexing options into the search box.

No. The criteria used by this rule are maintained by Microsoft cloud protection, to keep the trusted list constantly up to date with data gathered from around the world. Local admins do not have write access to alter this data. If you are looking to configure this rule to tailor it for your enterprise, you can add certain applications to the exclusions list to prevent the rule from being triggered.

This rule relies upon each application having a known reputation, as measured by prevalence, age, or inclusion on a list of trusted apps. The rule’s decision to block or allow an application is ultimately determined by Microsoft cloud protection’s assessment of these criteria.

Usually, cloud protection can determine that a new version of an application is similar enough to previous versions that it does not need to be reassessed at length. However, it might take some time for the app to build reputation after switching versions, particularly after a major update. In the meantime, you can add the application to the exclusions list, to prevent this rule from blocking important applications. If you are frequently updating and working with new versions of applications, you may opt instead to run this rule in audit mode.

A notification generated by this rule does not necessarily indicate malicious activity; however, this rule is still useful for blocking malicious activity, since malware often targets lsass.exe to gain illicit access to accounts. The lsass.exe process stores user credentials in memory after a user has logged in. Windows uses these credentials to validate users and apply local security policies.

Because many legitimate processes throughout a typical day will be calling on lsass.exe for credentials, this rule can be especially noisy. If a known legitimate application causes this rule to generate an excessive number of notifications, you can add it to the exclusion list. Most other ASR rules will generate a relatively smaller number of notifications, in comparison to this one, since calling on lsass.exe is typical of many applications’ normal functioning.

Enabling this rule will not provide additional protection if you have LSA protection enabled as well. Both the rule and LSA protection work in much the same way, so having both running at the same time would be redundant. However, sometimes you may not be able to enable LSA protection. In those cases, you can enable this rule to provide equivalent protection against malware that target lsass.exe.

Source : Official Microsoft Brand
Editor by : BEST Antivirus KBS Team