New Update Simple Windows Hardening

[dronefox1166]

All Simple Windows Hardening options are included in WHHLight? I have switched to WHHLight. But I'm not sure it protects as well as SWH... What to think?

 

[Andy Ful]

All Simple Windows Hardening options are included in WHHLight?

WHHLight SWH = Simple Windows Hardening + two more settings.
Some settings from Simple Windows Hardening are not visible in WHHLight because they are rarely changed. For example, the AppInstaller option is hardcoded to ON. The Admin Windows Script Host is hardcoded to OFF (SRP well protects it).
Two Simple Windows Hardening switches are joined in one SWH switch in WHHLight.

 

[Victor M]

Hi @Andy Ful ,

Did your FirewallHardening apply firewall rules as a group policy? Why can I not disable the rules in Adv Firewall ? And I cannot see the rules in GPedit ?

More crucially, if I, in GPedit, Firewall Properties, choose Apply Local Firewall Rules = No. Then will your rules still work ?

 

[Andy Ful]

Hi @Andy Ful ,

Did your FirewallHardening apply firewall rules as a group policy?

Yes and No. Both FirewallHardening and GPO can add the settings as Firewall Policies (under the same registry key in the HKLM Hive). However, FirewallHardening applies Windows Policies without using GPO.

Why can I not disable the rules in Adv Firewall ? And I cannot see the rules in GPedit ?

Firewall Policies cannot be changed from Adv. Firewall app.

More crucially, if I, in GPedit, Firewall Properties, choose Apply Local Firewall Rules = No. Then will your rules still work ?

Yes.
This setting merges the local rules (applied via Adv. Firewall) with Firewall Policies. The "No" setting forces Firewall to ignore local settings, but does not affect Firewall Policies.

 

[Victor M]

Which LoLBin list do you follow in Firewall Hardening ? For example Notepad is not part of LoLBas.

 

[Andy Ful]

Which LoLBin list do you follow in Firewall Hardening ? For example Notepad is not part of LoLBas.

It is not, but it is abused in the wild by injecting malware to connect with C2 servers. Of course, any benign executable can be abused in this way. However, using system executables has some advantages.

 

[Victor M]

@Andy Ful Can you create another way of doing Firewall Hardening ( the lolbins outbound block ) and insert it into Group Policy? I use group policy's firewall section and deny local firewall rules because that way MS cannot insert or modify the rules whenever they want to.

 

[Andy Ful]

@Andy Ful Can you create another way of doing Firewall Hardening ( the lolbins outbound block ) and insert it into Group Policy? I use group policy's firewall section and deny local firewall rules because that way MS cannot insert or modify the rules whenever they want to.

I am sorry. GPO does not work on Windows Home, so it is not my area of interest.