STIGUI
V-213445CAT II — Medium severitySV-213445r1260208_rule

Microsoft Defender AV must be configured to always enable real-time protection.

Rule version WNDF-AV-000021 · STIG v2 · 2026-09-02

Discussion

This policy setting turns off real-time protection prompts for known malware detection. Microsoft Defender Antivirus alerts when malware or potentially unwanted software attempts to install itself or to run on a user's computer. If this policy setting is enabled, Microsoft Defender Antivirus will not prompt users to take actions on malware detections. If this policy setting is disabled or not configured, Microsoft Defender Antivirus will prompt users to take actions on malware detections.

Check

Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Real-time Protection >> "Turn off real-time protection" is set to "Disabled" or "Not Configured".

Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Real-Time Protection

If the value "DisableRealtimeMonitoring" is "REG_DWORD = 0", this is not a finding. If the value does not exist, this is not a finding. If the value is "1", this is a finding.

Alternate Check (if Microsoft Intune applied this setting):

Navigate to "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Policy Manager".

If the value "AllowRealtimeMonitoring" is "REG_DWORD = 1", this is not a finding. If the value is "1", this is a finding.

Fix

Set the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Real-time Protection >> "Turn off real-time protection" to "Disabled" or "Not Configured".

Identifiers

Group ID
V-213445
Group title
SRG-APP-000278
Rule ID
SV-213445r1260208_rule
Check ID
C-14670r1260207_chk
Fix ID
F-14668r823061_fix