I am using Windows 7 firewall with outbound filtering enabled. Windows Firewall does not provide an UI for new outbound connection prompts, it just blocks them. Windows Firewall Control solves this using a workaround - it enables audit logging of packet/connection drop failures, monitors the Security log for new entries, and brings up prompts as needed.
I have spent time crafting a list of outbound Allow rules for all system services and applications that need to make outbound connections. Windows Firewall is able to target specific services within svchost.exe, allowing pretty fine-grained control. I have come across only two things where this doesn't work - Network Discovery, and Cryptographic Services.
I have the following rule enabled:
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Windows Cryptographic Services"
program="%SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe" service=CryptSvc
protocol=tcp remoteport=80,443 dir=out action=allow
However, I still keep getting blocks originating from the svchost.exe hosting CryptSvc, trying to make outbound http connections to verify certificates and such. I even used sc config CryptSvc type=own
to isolate the service into its own container, to confirm that it's indeed CryptSvc making these requests. And even then, the rule would still not match. There are many other rules with the same structure, just different target service, where everything works just fine.
So far I could not find a satisfactory workaround. Allowing 'everything' for CryptSvc still won't make it match. The scope needs to be at least 'all services' for it to match, and this is too broad. I can add an ignore rule for svchost.exe in WFC, but that, again, is too broad for my liking. I'd prefer a systematic solution.
EDIT: Trying to edit my firewall rule pops up the a warning box:
Windows services have been restricted with rules that allow expected behavior only. Rules that specify host processes, such as svchost.exe, might not work as expected because they can conflict with Windows service-hardening rules.
Are you sure that you want to create a rule referencing this process?
Could be that this 'hardening' is interfering with the firewall's mechanism for identifying the originating service.
WSH Default Outbound Block
internally to Windows Firewall with the descriptionBlocks all outbound traffic for services who have been network hardened
. There seems to be some mystery regarding this "hardening". But taking into account this service is normally restricted by firewall I don't think you should worry. Just allow it and anything above its intended access will be taken care of by firewall.