Early Launch Antimalware, Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy must prevent boot drivers.
Overview
| Finding ID | Version | Rule ID | IA Controls | Severity |
| V-220813 | WN10-CC-000085 | SV-220813r991589_rule | CCI-000366 | medium |
| Description | ||||
| By being launched first by the kernel, ELAM ( Early Launch Antimalware) is ensured to be launched before any third-party software, and is therefore able to detect malware in the boot process and prevent it from initializing. | ||||
| STIG | Date | |||
| Microsoft Windows 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide | 2025-02-25 | |||
Details
Check Text (C-220813r991589_chk)
The default behavior is for Early Launch Antimalware - Boot-Start Driver Initialization policy is to enforce "Good, unknown and bad but critical" (preventing "bad").
If the registry value name below does not exist, this a finding.
If it exists and is configured with a value of "7", this is a finding.
Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Registry Path: \SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch\
Value Name: DriverLoadPolicy
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1, 3, or 8
Possible values for this setting are:
8 - Good only
1 - Good and unknown
3 - Good, unknown and bad but critical
7 - All (which includes "Bad" and would be a finding)
Fix Text (F-22517r554925_fix)
Ensure that Early Launch Antimalware - Boot-Start Driver Initialization policy is set to enforce "Good, unknown and bad but critical" (preventing "bad").
If this needs to be corrected configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> System >> Early Launch Antimalware >> "Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy" to "Enabled” with "Good, unknown and bad but critical" selected.