STIGUI
V-254361CAT II — Medium severitySV-254361r958478_rule

Windows Server 2022 Microsoft Defender antivirus SmartScreen must be enabled.

Rule version WN22-CC-000300 · STIG v2 · 2026-08-19

Discussion

Microsoft Defender antivirus SmartScreen helps protect systems from programs downloaded from the internet that may be malicious. Enabling SmartScreen can block potentially malicious programs or warn users.

Check

This is applicable to unclassified systems; for other systems, this is NA.

If the following registry value does not exist or is not configured as specified, this is a finding:

Registry Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Registry Path: \SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\

Value Name: EnableSmartScreen

Value Type: REG_DWORD Value: 0x00000001 (1)

Fix

Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> File Explorer >> Configure Windows Defender SmartScreen to "Enabled" with either option "Warn" or "Warn and prevent bypass" selected.

Windows Server 2022 includes duplicate policies for this setting. It can also be configured under Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Windows Defender SmartScreen >> Explorer.

Identifiers

Group ID
V-254361
Group title
SRG-OS-000095-GPOS-00049
Rule ID
SV-254361r958478_rule
Check ID
C-57846r848897_chk
Fix ID
F-57797r848898_fix