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Microsoft Defender AV must be configured block Office applications from creating child processes.

Overview

Finding IDVersionRule IDIA ControlsSeverity
V-213457WNDF-AV-000033SV-213457r961092_ruleCCI-001170medium
Description
Office apps, such as Word or Excel, will not be allowed to create child processes. This is a typical malware behavior, especially for macro-based attacks that attempt to use Office apps to launch or download malicious executables.
STIGDate
Microsoft Defender Antivirus Security Technical Implementation Guide2026-05-08

Related Frameworks

1 mapping across 3 frameworks
SCF0 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 3 hops (2) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

CFG-03.3Explicitly Allow / Deny Applications
0.50
END-10Mobile Code
0.50
NIST 800-530 mappings

No source states a mapping between these directly.

Also reachable in 2 hops (3) derived by us, not asserted by any source

Each of these is a route we composed by chaining published mappings. No publisher states a relationship between the two endpoints.

SC-18(1)Identify Unacceptable Code and Take Corrective Actions
1.00
SC-18(3)Prevent Downloading and Execution
1.00
SC-18(4)Prevent Automatic Execution
1.00
CCI1 mapping
CCI-001170
1.00

Details

Check Text (C-213457r961092_chk)

This setting is applicable starting with v1709 of Windows 10. It is NA for prior versions. Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Microsoft Defender Exploit Guard >> Attack Surface Reduction >> "Configure Attack Surface Reduction rules" is set to "Enabled”. Click "Show...". Verify the rule ID in the Value name column and the desired state in the Value column is set as follows: Value name: D4F940AB-401B-4EFC-AADC-AD5F3C50688A Value: 1 Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Windows Defender Exploit Guard\ASR\Rules Criteria: If the value "D4F940AB-401B-4EFC-AADC-AD5F3C50688A" is REG_SZ = 1, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-14680r823082_fix)

Set the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Windows Defender Exploit Guard >> Attack Surface Reduction >> "Configure Attack Surface Reduction rules" to "Enabled". Click "Show...". Set the Value name to "D4F940AB-401B-4EFC-AADC-AD5F3C50688A" and the Value to "1".