Microsoft Defender AV must control whether exclusions are visible to Local Admins.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-278658	SRG-APP-000210	WNDF-AV-000054	SV-278658r1156519_rule	2025-11-25	2

Description
Disabled (Default): If this setting is not configured or disabled, local admins can see exclusions in the Windows Security App or via PowerShell. Enabled: If this setting is enabled, local admins no longer see the exclusion list in Windows Security App or via PowerShell.O13. Note: Applying this setting will not remove exclusions, it only prevents them from being visible to local admins. This is reflected in?Get-MpPreference.I13.

Description

Disabled (Default): If this setting is not configured or disabled, local admins can see exclusions in the Windows Security App or via PowerShell. Enabled: If this setting is enabled, local admins no longer see the exclusion list in Windows Security App or via PowerShell.O13. Note: Applying this setting will not remove exclusions, it only prevents them from being visible to local admins. This is reflected in?Get-MpPreference.I13.

ℹ️ Check
Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Control whether or not exclusions are visible to Local Admins is set to "Enabled"; otherwise, this is a finding. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender Criteria: If the value "HideExclusionsFromLocalAdmins" is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding. If the value is "0", this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Control whether or not exclusions are visible to Local Admins is set to "Enabled"; otherwise, this is a finding. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender Criteria: If the value "HideExclusionsFromLocalAdmins" is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding. If the value is "0", this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Set the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Control whether or not exclusions are visible to Local Admins to "Enabled". Click "OK". Click "Apply".