Windows 10: System Guard Runtime Monitor Using Absurd Amounts of RAM

bruhimsodone · Apr 21, 2020

System Guard Runtime Monitor Is using absolutely insane amounts of ram.

I have 16 Gigabytes of RAM along with 25 Gigabytes of vRAM, this single program manages to sometime use 20% of that. I can't click end task on it, it says "access denied", if I restart it stays at a few MB for about 5 minutes then shoots back up to hundreds of MB or even a few thousand. I can't even change its priority in the details menu of the task manager because I again get an "access denied" message.

I have seen this problem in many other forum posts, all of which have incorrect answers that "fix" the wrong problem or don't work at all. Often people have been saying to close the Runtime Broker even though this is a different program and I have not had any problems with it. They also say to close it, which again, doesn't work, as you can close Runtime Broker but not System Guard Runtime Monitor. Even an answer saying to close the task and restart the person's computer when in their question they stated that they couldn't close the task and restarting didn't fix it.

Microsoft, I and probably many others would like an actual method of fixing this from an actual person for this problem.

:)

Mr D. Erasmus · Apr 21, 2020

system guard runtime monitor broker using a lot of memory

Recently I have noticed that system guard runtime monitor broker has been using a lot of memory. Restarting my computer temporally fixes a problem but after a few hours it's back to using a lot of memory. I know it should use about 1.2 mb of memory where
mine is using over a 100 mb. Is there a way to fix this?

Thanks in advance

aksantana1 · Apr 21, 2020

System (ntoskrnl.exe) using an absurd amount of memory

Process ntoskrnl.exe, listed as System on Task Manager has been using a lot of memory.

(Please don't mind the Portuguese...)

I've tried the following:

Update all drives

Run Malware Bytes

Run AntiSpyware

Increase/decrease the amount of virtual memory (paging)

These actions reduced the usage for a while, but it always comes back...

My PC:

Ultrabook Lenovo S400u

Windows 10

4 GB RAM

Intel i5 1.7GHz

Any ideas on how to fix this permanently?

Brink · Apr 21, 2020

Credential Guard lab companion

If you have heard about Credential Guard in Windows Server 2016 (and in Windows 10), but do not have an environment to try it out, here is a lab environment we built for you to play.

Lab access

The link will lead you to a sign up page, after that, you will see the following labs listed for Windows Server 2016:

Windows Server 2016 labs

There are 3 exercises in the “Implementing Breach Resistance Security in Windows Server 2016”:

Credential Guard

Remote Credential Guard

Device Guard

This blogpost will walk you through the Credential Guard lab details.

After click on the link of Breach Resistance lab, you be required to sign in and then you can launch the lab:

Sign-in

Launch page

It takes a few minutes to create the VMs, and once it has done, you will see the following machines prepared:

Initialize

DC: domain controller, which is not used for this exercise.

SRV01 and SRV02: both are Windows Server 2016, and used for the lab exercise.

Lab exercise – Explained

The steps are listed in the Content section:

Content

This lab is structured to cover the following in sequence:

Understand how attackers can use the hash in memory to gain access to domain controllers

Configure Credential Guard

Verify the hash in memory is protected using Credential Guard

You can follow the steps listed under the content section to complete the lab, the intent of the blog, is to break the procedures into groups, to help you understand the exercise better.

Prep the hash

Lsass.exe is the process which handles user logon, it stores the user credential information in its memory. The memory is cleared when the machine starts up. In this lab environment, all the virtual machines start at the time lab launches, when you logon to the machine, you will only have the logon user credential information in memory. In order to demonstrate an attacker gaining user access using other account’s hash, the first part of the lab is to simulate a server which has been running for a while, different users had remotely or locally connected to it, therefore, lsass memory stored many different user credential information.
This is accomplished by step 1-8.

Retrieving credential hash

Mimikatz is a popular tool for retrieving lsass memory information. The tool has been copied to the lab machines, step 9-13 walk you through the process of dumping lsass memory using Mimikatz.

Pass the Hash

Pass the hash is a hacking technique that allows an attacker to authenticate by using the underlying NTLM, instead of specifying the user password. In step 14 to 24, you will extract LabAdmin hash from lsass using Mimikatz, and use the hash to open a PowerShell console, and perform a couple of operations using the LabAdmin privilege:

Add a user to the domain admin group

Open remote PowerShell connection to a domain controller

Both operations could not be performed by the logon user. But using the hash of the LabAdmin, an attacker will be able to do it using the information retrieve from Lsass memory.

Configure and verify Credential Guard

Step 25 to 36 illustrate the steps to configure credential guard, then verify its status using msinfo32.exe and PowerShell.

Step 37 to 43 goes further to use Mimikatz to show the hash in Lsass is now encrypted using Credential Guard.

More info

The exercise illustrated the benefit of Credential Guard in Windows Server 2016 as well as Windows 10. For more information, you can find here.
Click to expand...

Source: Credential Guard lab companion Datacenter and Private Cloud Security Blog

See also:

Enable or Disable Credential Guard in Windows 10 Windows 10 Security System Tutorials

Verify if Credential Guard is Enabled or Disabled in Windows 10 Windows 10 Security System Tutorials

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system guard runtime monitor broker using a lot of memory

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