Microsoft announces that it’s working on disabling the less secure SMB (Server Message Block) guest authentication fallback on Windows 11 Pro to increase security. The implementation is already in the latest preview of Windows 11 in the Dev Channel, but it’s still being determined when it’ll roll out to everyone. Though, this could happen as soon as the next feature update is released.

According to the company, the guest access method for remote network shares on SMB2 and SMB3 does not support inspection trails and other security mechanisms, such as certificates and logging in. As a result, hackers could more easily exploit the vulnerabilities through man-in-the-middle attacks to gain authorized access to the network. It’s also possible for attackers to use the guest authentication feature to gain read and write access to the network.

Source: https://pureinfotech.com/windows-11-pro-disables-smb-guest-access-network-shares/