Kernel-Mode Hardware-enforced Stack Protection suddenly off?

Ultragravy · Apr 18, 2023

Morning folks.

Booted up today to a ! on my Windows Defender Icon and the below message:

As far as I can tell nothing has changed on the system outside of any random mini Windows updates that might have gone on last night. What would cause this to suddenly turn off?

Is this related in any way to the bug with the recent update patch which required registry additions to save the status of a similar setting?

Ultragravy · Apr 18, 2023

Update - Turned it on, rebooted, seems to be active and on and no error now. Mostly was confused as to why it suddenly turned off, though I believe I may have just Dismissed this as a warning a couple of months ago when lots of users got affected by the similar issue of core integrity security being turned off due to a missing registry entry.

Just wanted some clarity on what might have happened - I'm a casual home user so generally this kind of high level security likely isnt too vital for me if it's on or off.

coztfu · Apr 18, 2023

Hello. I just turned my dsktop on today and got the same error.
When I proceed to "Go to settings" I got a "Page not available" pop up, like what happened some time ago with the Core Integrity settings.
I've restart the machine but the problem didn't go away.

DigitalGoat · Apr 18, 2023

There was an update to Defender today I think, that caused the setting to turn off until a restart. Update probably altered some core value of Defender.

Siabot · Apr 18, 2023

There are no drivers listed under the incompatible drivers section. Any leads on a fix?

DigitalGoat · Apr 18, 2023

What fix? This is not the Core Isolation function being posted about, there are other threads for that.
Turn the setting back on that Defender flags as needing attention and restart PC, that should do it. If you are having other issues after the update you might have to uninstall it and block it until any potential issues are fixed.

WindBanan9 · Apr 18, 2023

I had same problem, now, the problem is, it crashes the hell out of my pc when trying to run certain apps/games after i turn it on i get blue screened with Kernel security check failure, ironically if i turn it off i don't have that problem anymore, sadly it's not the first time microsoft pushes updates that literally breaks the system

wrogg · Apr 18, 2023

absolutely dread seeing that 'successful update to Microsoft Defender antimalware platform'
Guess where the ! is today....

Mine seems alright.. desktop glitched a little after the reboot, They need to communicate a bit more .

Siabot · Apr 18, 2023

The Kernel-Module Hardware-enforced stack protection issue comes up directly in the Core Isolation notification screen, and that's where the Incompatible Drivers link brings you to an unpopulated list when clicked. I am attempting to discuss the topic at hand here, not something else. Just looking to address properly without dismissing. I'll see about following your advice.

wrogg · Apr 18, 2023

I just turned the button from off to on then it asked to reboot, is yours greyed out though?

Grimmsqueaker · Apr 18, 2023

Woke up to this myself and was getting the Page not available flag coztfu is getting.

Couldn't access Core Isolation either searching for it.

I had to enable virtualisation in my Bios

To do this (AMD AM4 system with MSI motherboard) Go into the CPU overclocking then selecting Advanced CPU Settings and setting SVM to enabled to allow virtualisation.

Booted back into Windows and this time it allowed me to go to the Core Isolation settings and enable it

Restarted again and now all good

It is bizarre though as around 6 weeks ago was getting a similar error so I had to disable virtualisation and dismiss it in the security settings!

JacksonS · Apr 18, 2023

I had this too. Can only assume the Defender update did it. The Update Stack Packages have been occuring since March with the changes being made to Windows Update without this specific issue, although the last Cumulative (March) triggered the LSASS 'issue'. I hacked that with a registry change and now April has been it returns if I remove the added Registry key, so I've left it in.

But, as I see this has been an issue for people who don't already have Virtualisation on, I'm gonna assume it's more a widespread issue with Defender.

I have an AMD machine I can try to update but SVM is already enabled. I'll add to this if anything notable happens - I'll boot up a few games.

funkin · Apr 18, 2023

Could this be the reason why all of a sudden my safesearch is locked on? Its a weird coincidence that this ! appeared in windows defender and now my safesearch is on and says it's locked by another person...

JacksonS · Apr 18, 2023

funkin said:
Could this be the reason why all of a sudden my safesearch is locked on? Its a weird coincidence that this ! appeared in windows defender and now my safesearch is on and says it's locked by another person...

Unsure. But I did read that updates to Chromium engined browsers had this particular feature enabled since May 21 (version 90 upwards) I would think Google Chrome SafeSearch would be an independent setting? "Locked by another person" might indicate a security / system policy level change?

Probably try an uninstall / reinstall cycle with Chrome?

coztfu · Apr 18, 2023

Grimmsqueaker said:
Woke up to this myself and was getting the Page not available flag coztfu is getting.

Couldn't access Core Isolation either searching for it.

I had to enable virtualisation in my Bios

To do this (AMD AM4 system with MSI motherboard) Go into the CPU overclocking then selecting Advanced CPU Settings and setting SVM to enabled to allow virtualisation.

Booted back into Windows and this time it allowed me to go to the Core Isolation settings and enable it

Restarted again and now all good

It is bizarre though as around 6 weeks ago was getting a similar error so I had to disable virtualisation and dismiss it in the security settings!

Yup. Enabling CPU Virtualization fixed it for me and had also to uninstall a driver, but everything working as supposed after it.
Thank you :)

Merrydoc · Apr 18, 2023

Hello,

i have never seen Kernel-Module Hardware-enforced stack protection before todays Update! It replaced Local Security Authority today for me, or is it the same? Kinda confused now. Still have a lot of Windows Defender Bugs since the big Update last Month. UI is still all over the Place and TPM randomly dissapears and comes back. Hope they gonna fix it soon.

greetings

Siabot · Apr 18, 2023

wrogg said:
I just turned the button from off to on then it asked to reboot, is yours greyed out though?

It allows me to throw that switch one time (when the dialogue in the taskbar brings me there after reboot), but it then greys, and offers a blank list of driver incompatibilities.

Sounds like there's an AMD solution here. Anyone on i7 Intel find a solution? I'm on BIOS 1.11.0, and while there's an update available to 1.13.0, I don't want to do it yet unless its necessary. It's a one-way update as far as I know, and I've read about some issues with 1.13.0 that I don't feel like dealing with.

Siabot · Apr 18, 2023

coztfu said:
Yup. Enabling CPU Virtualization fixed it for me and had also to uninstall a driver, but everything working as supposed after it.
Thank you :)

Did your list of Incompatible Drivers populate, or did you have to figure out which driver was incompatible via DM updates / something else?

wrogg · Apr 18, 2023

I am using a i7 12700k on a Z690. You have virtualization turn on I guess? listing the incompatible driver would be really useful here!

Siabot · Apr 18, 2023

wrogg said:
I am using a i7 12700k on a Z690. You have virtualization turn on I guess? listing the incompatible driver would be really useful here!

If the list of Incompatible Drivers weren't entirely blank (ie: missing any list of drivers whatsoever) that would have been helpful.

I'm on i7-12700H, Alienware X17 R2. Coming up empty, and not certain where Virtualization or Overclocking are vis. BIOS 1.11.0

Kernel-Mode Hardware-enforced Stack Protection suddenly off?

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