Version 1 of the SMB network protocol has been around for more than 25 years. Despite its usefulness, SMBv1 is currently a real security headache, and you only need to look at what WannaCry did to see it. Microsoft understands that manipulating this protocol too much is delicate, but several sources indicate that the company plans to disable or remove SMBv1 in the next major Windows 10 update, cutting off any possibility of a new attack through that route at the root.
The Legacy of SMBv1
Windows 7 was the most affected operating system by the WannaCry ransomware campaign, but its weakness was not associated with a critical internal flaw, but rather a vulnerability present in a network protocol that Microsoft has been trying to retire for the past five years. SMB version 2 debuted with Windows Vista in 2006; however, support for version 1 remains for logical backward compatibility reasons. This would not be a problem if it weren't for certain government agencies stubbornly accumulating bugs and exploits as if they were conventional weapons, and that can't even keep them properly under lock and key. We all know it's a matter of time before the next WannaCry leaves the network in a bind, so in Redmond they would be planning to cut the Gordian knot and retire SMBv1 once and for all.
Microsoft's Plan
The big question is how to carry this out while minimizing any negative impact. Microsoft already disabled SMBv1 in internal builds of Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows Server 2016, but according to Ned Pyle, principal administrator of the HAS (High Availability and Storage) group for Windows Server, the change will take a while to materialize, even in the Insider channel. He noted that the process "will have to evolve several times" and that "everything is subject to changes". The most interesting thing is that the decision does not qualify as a patch or an update, but rather we will see it implemented in clean installations of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (Redstone 3) . Current Windows 10 installations need to disable it manually.
How to Disable SMBv1 Manually
How do you do that? Fortunately, it's very easy: We visit the classic Control Panel, go to "Programs and Features", click on "Turn Windows features on or off", uncheck "SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support", apply the change and restart the computer. Microsoft offers other methods in this document, but the one we mention here is probably the most user-friendly for the end user.
Source: BleepingComputer
