Malwarebytes and Windows Defender - Kernel-mode Hardware-enforced Stack Pro

[HylianSteel]

Windows Defender was recently updated with a new protection option as of yesterday: Kernel-mode Hardware-enforced Stack Protection. It and Malwarebytes Ransomware Protection cannot currently coexist together.

Upon enabling the new protection option (most users will turn it on since Defender flags your computer as unsafe otherwise) and rebooting the computer, Ransomware Protection will be unable to turn on and will otherwise be disabled.

I'm disabling the new Defender feature and won't turn it back on until there is some compatibility between the two.

[Malwarebytes]

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[Porthos]

@HylianSteel

Please do the following so that we may take a closer look at your installation for troubleshooting:

NOTE: The tools and the information obtained is safe and not harmful to your privacy or your computer, please allow the programs to run if blocked by your system.

 

• Download the Malwarebytes Support Tool
• In your Downloads folder, open the mb-support-x.x.x.xxx.exe file
• In the User Account Control pop-up window, click Yes to continue the installation
• Run the MBST Support Tool
• In the left navigation pane of the Malwarebytes Support Tool, click Advanced
• In the Advanced Options, click Gather Logs. A status diagram displays the tool is Getting logs from your machine
• A zip file named mbst-grab-results.zip will be saved to your desktop, please upload that file on your next reply

Thanks

[HylianSteel]

Logs provided

mbst-grab-results.zip

[Porthos]

@HylianSteel See if turning off the following setting and restarting the computer helps.

Edited April 20, 2023 by Porthos

[Porthos]

I found more info. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-defender-update-causes-windows-hardware-stack-protection-mess/

[HylianSteel]

The new windows defender feature, Kernel-mode Hardware-enforced Stack Protection, blocks the ransomware driver from running. I figure that the ransomware driver will have to be adjusted for this at some point in the future.

[AdvancedSetup]

Thank you for the report @HylianSteel

We are working on a fix for this issue and it appears to work for some.

 

Please open Malwarebytes, click on the small gear icon and go to Settings -> General and click the Check for updates button.

You should have at least this version as shown in the About tab

 

Then restart the computer.

Then, Turn ON Kernel-mode hardware-enforced stack protection

Check ransomware protection status

If ransomware protection is enabled then well & good

 

If it's not enabled then do the following

Check whether you see any notifications from Windows Security/Defender about any driver incompatibility?

Open Malwarebytes settings again. Go to General again and enable the Event Log Data

Then restart the computer one more time and check the Ransomware Protection status

If still an issue then get us a new set of logs with the MBST tool.

 

To begin, please do the following so that we may take a closer look at your installation for troubleshooting:

NOTE: The tools and the information obtained are safe and not harmful to your privacy or your computer, please allow the programs to run if blocked by your system.

• Download the Malwarebytes Support Tool
• In your Downloads folder, open the mb-support-x.x.x.xxx.exe file
• In the User Account Control pop-up window, click Yes to continue the installation
• Run the MBST Support Tool
• In the left navigation pane of the Malwarebytes Support Tool, click Advanced
• In the Advanced Options, click Gather Logs. A status diagram displays the tool is Getting logs from your machine
• A zip file named mbst-grab-results.zip will be saved to the Public desktop, please upload that file on your next reply

Thank you

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by AdvancedSetup
Updated information