Windows Firewall policy is created and assigned

Overview

If policies for Windows Firewall aren’t configured and assigned, threat actors can exploit unprotected endpoints to gain unauthorized access, move laterally, and escalate privileges within the environment. Without enforced firewall rules, attackers can bypass network segmentation, exfiltrate data, or deploy malware, increasing the risk of widespread compromise.

Enforcing Windows Firewall policies ensures consistent application of inbound and outbound traffic controls, reducing exposure to unauthorized access and supporting Zero Trust through network segmentation and device-level protection.

Remediation

Configure and assign firewall policies for Windows in Intune to block unauthorized traffic and enforce consistent network protections across all managed devices:

• Configure firewall policies for Windows devices. Intune uses two complementary profiles to manage firewall settings:
  • Windows Firewall - Use this profile to configure overall firewall behavior based on network type.
  • Windows Firewall rules - Use this profile to define traffic rules for apps, ports, or IPs, tailored to specific groups or workloads. This Intune profile also supports use of reusable settings groups to help simplify management of common settings you use for different profile instances.
• Assign policies in Intune

For more information, see:

• Available Windows Firewall settings

Run it

The check runs as part of the whole assessment, with the ZeroTrustAssessment module installed:

Install-Module ZeroTrustAssessment -Scope CurrentUser
Connect-Maester
Invoke-Maester -Pack ZTA -SkipBuiltIn

Leave out -SkipBuiltIn to run Maester’s own checks in the same run.

About this check

Severity	High
Effort to fix	Low
Impact on users	Low
Pillar	Devices
Category	Device management
Product	Intune
Feature	Endpoint security
Area	Devices and endpoints
ATT&CK	T1021 Remote Services, T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services, T1686.003 Windows Host Firewall
Licence	Intune
Tenant	Workforce

Product, feature, area and ATT&CK are Maester’s: the assessment does not record them, so Maester keeps them in the pack’s taxonomy.json.

A Microsoft check, part of the Zero Trust Assessment pack. Text from ZeroTrustAssessment 3.1.0, © Microsoft, MIT licence.