Microsoft plans to gradually abandon the use of the script language vbscript (Visual Basic Script) in the Windows operating system. This process will unfold in three stages, starting in the second half of 2024.
At the first stage in the upcoming version of Windows 11 24H2, the release of which is planned at the end of this year, VBSCRIPT support will be transferred to the category of additional components (Feature on Demand, Fod). Optional components such as .NET FRAMEWORK, HYPER-V, Windows subsystem for Linux are not installed by default, but can be added at the request of the user.
“Over time, more modern and functional programming languages have appeared, such as JavaScript and PowerShell, better suitable for the development of web applications and tasks automation,” said Microsoft head of the Microsoft Shankar.
At the second stage, approximately in 2027, VBSCRIPT will still be listed in additional components, but will no longer be prescribed in Windows.
Finally, in the framework of the third final stage of the decommissioning, the VBScript will finally disappear from the future Windows assemblies. All the dynamic libraries associated with it (.dll files) will be completely deleted, and the projects using this language will stop functioning.
The VBScript language, which appeared 30 years ago together with the Internet Explorer browser, was designed to automate the tasks and control of applications through the Windows Script shell. However, over time, attackers began to actively use it as a tool for the spread of malicious software, such as Lokibot, Emotet, QBOT and recently discovered DarkGate.
The VBSCRIPT is part of the more large-scale Microsoft strategy to get rid of Windows and Office components, which can serve as attack vectors and contribute to infection of user systems of malicious programs. Earlier, the company has already disconnected VBSCRIPT in the default at the Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 10, banned the use of EXCEL 4.0 macro (XLM), introduced the mandatory blocking of the VBA macros in the office bag, introduced the protection from the XLM macros and began to block undesirable XLL additions for Microsoft 365 customers by The whole world.
These measures originate in 2018, when Microsoft has expanded the support of their own antivirus scanning interface (AMSI) on the clients of Office 365, thereby limiting the