SV-253372r1268251: Early Launch Antimalware, Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy must prevent boot drivers. | Microsoft Windows 11 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Early Launch Antimalware, Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy must prevent boot drivers.

Description

Discussion Text

The default behavior is for Early Launch Antimalware - Boot-Start Driver Initialization policy is to enforce "Good, unknown and bad but critical" (preventing "bad"). 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.

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000366

References

DPMS Target Microsoft Windows 11 DISA DPMS Target Microsoft Windows 11 5471

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

# Windows PowerShell
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.stig.windows11:def:253372
# Early Launch Antimalware, Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy must prevent boot drivers.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Verifies 'Boot-Start Driver Initialization Policy' is not set to 'Enabled' with 'All' selected
# registry_object (registry_test)
function test_1 {
  return ((((@{String='reg_sz';ExpandString='reg_expand_sz';Binary='reg_binary';DWord='reg_dword';MultiString='reg_multi_sz';QWord='reg_qword';None='reg_none'}[(Get-Item -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch').GetValueKind('DriverLoadPolicy').ToString()]) -eq 'reg_dword') -and (((Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'DriverLoadPolicy') -eq 1)) -or (((@{String='reg_sz';ExpandString='reg_expand_sz';Binary='reg_binary';DWord='reg_dword';MultiString='reg_multi_sz';QWord='reg_qword';None='reg_none'}[(Get-Item -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch').GetValueKind('DriverLoadPolicy').ToString()]) -eq 'reg_dword') -and (((Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'DriverLoadPolicy') -eq 3)) -or (((@{String='reg_sz';ExpandString='reg_expand_sz';Binary='reg_binary';DWord='reg_dword';MultiString='reg_multi_sz';QWord='reg_qword';None='reg_none'}[(Get-Item -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch').GetValueKind('DriverLoadPolicy').ToString()]) -eq 'reg_dword') -and (((Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch' -Name 'DriverLoadPolicy' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'DriverLoadPolicy') -eq 8)))
}

if (test_1) {
  Write-Output "PASS"
} else {
  Write-Output "FAIL"
}

Assessment Script Powered by AISyntax-verified

A standalone PowerShell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked as valid PowerShell. Not executed here — running it for real needs the actual ms_windows_11 target this check assesses.

# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.windows11:def:253372
$compliant = $true
if (Test-Path -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch\DriverLoadPolicy") {
    $policy = Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Policies\EarlyLaunch\DriverLoadPolicy" -Name "DriverLoadPolicy" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($policy -eq $null) {
        $compliant = $false
    } else {
        $values = [int[]]@(1, 3, 8)
        if ($policy.DriverLoadPolicy -notin $values) {
            $compliant = $false
        }
    }
}
if ($compliant) { Write-Output "PASS"; Exit 0 } else { Write-Output "FAIL"; Exit 1 }

Remediation

Ensure that Early Launch Antimalware - Boot-Start Driver Initialization policy is set to enforce "Good, unknown and bad but critical" (preventing "bad").

To correct this, 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.