Microsoft plans to remove a security feature in Windows 11 24H2 and earlier versions. The company has confirmed that VBS Enclaves will be deprecated on Windows 11 versions 23H2 and 22H2. Server 2022 and 2019/2016 will do the same. This actually makes older versions of Windows 11 and Windows Server less secure.
The company wrote:
VBS enclaves have been deprecated in Windows 11, version 23H2 and earlier versions of Windows. VBS enclaves will continue to be supported in Windows 11 version 24H2 and later. Windows
VBS enclaves have been deprecated in Server 2022 and earlier versions of Windows Server. Windows Server 2025 and later will continue to support VBS enclaves.
VBS Enclaves was announced last July, and at the time the company also talked about system requirements for the feature. As the name suggests, VBS enclaves are based on VBS (Virutalization-based Security).This feature is designed to improve the memory safety of applications by creating virtual trust levels (VTL) within a software-based Trusted Execution Environment (TEE).
VBS is an important security feature of Windows 11, and Microsoft has pointed it out several times in the past. So, we're not sure why the company removed one of the VBS features on slightly older versions of the operating system, and there's no official explanation as to why.
The tech giant typically removes old standards to make its software more secure, or introduces newer, better standards. For example, it recently updated how its Edge browser collects user data and is phasing out ActiveX controls in Office apps.
However, it's not infallible, such as when Microsoft had to patch the CVE-2025-21370 VBS Enclaves local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerability in January. Regarding memory safety, Microsoft has also begun integrating Rust into the Windows kernel as early as Windows 11 version 23H2 in 2024.
You can view the list of deprecated features on Microsoft's official website.