Information
This rule prevents VBA macros from calling Win32 APIs. Office VBA enables Win32 API calls.
Rule ID and name:
- 92e97fa1-2edf-4476-bdd6-9dd0b4dddc7b (Block Win32 API calls from Office macros)
The recommended state for this setting is: 92e97fa1-2edf-4476-bdd6-9dd0b4dddc7b:1 (Block).
Note: More information on ASR rules can be found at the following link: Use Attack surface reduction rules to prevent malware infection | Microsoft Docs https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-defender-exploit-guard/attack-surface-reduction-exploit-guard
Attack surface reduction helps prevent actions and apps that are typically used by exploit-seeking malware to infect machines.
Malware can abuse VBA macro calls with various methods, such as calling Win32 APIs to launch malicious shellcode without writing anything directly to disk. Most organizations don't rely on the ability to call Win32 APIs in their day-to-day functioning, even if they use macros in other ways.
Solution
To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to 92e97fa1-2edf-4476-bdd6-9dd0b4dddc7b with a value of 1 :
Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Antivirus\Microsoft Defender Exploit Guard\Attack Surface Reduction\Configure Attack Surface Reduction rules: Set the state for each ASR rule
Note: This Group Policy path is provided by the Group Policy template WindowsDefender.admx/adml that is included with the Microsoft Windows 10 Release 1709 Administrative Templates (or newer).
Impact:
Files copied from the USB to the disk drive can be blocked by this setting.