How to troubleshoot Cayosoft Guardian component crashes on older Windows Server 2022 builds

This article describes an issue where Cayosoft Guardian components may crash on older builds of Windows Server 2022 because of incomplete support for Intel CET (Control-flow Enforcement Technology), also known as Shadow Stacks.

Affected components

The issue can affect the following Cayosoft Guardian components installed on Windows Server 2022:

• Cayosoft Guardian service
• Forest Recovery agents
• AD connector

Symptoms

On affected servers, one or more of the following symptoms may occur:

• Cayosoft Guardian services crash unexpectedly
• Forest Recovery agents stop working or terminate unexpectedly
• AD connector services crash or fail to remain running
• Services restart repeatedly after failure

Depending on the affected component, this issue may result in interrupted backup, recovery, or change monitoring operations

Root cause

Early versions of Windows Server 2022 have incomplete support for Intel CET / Shadow Stacks. Because of this operating system limitation, Cayosoft Guardian services and related components may crash when running on those builds.

This issue is limited to older Windows Server 2022 builds. It does not persist on sufficiently updated systems.

Resolution

1. Update the affected Windows Server 2022 machine to a newer build of the operating system.

2. After applying the Windows update, restart the affected Cayosoft Guardian services or reboot the server if required.

3. Verify the OS build on the server where the Cayosoft Guardian component is installed.

   1. Press Win+R.
   2. Type winver.
   3. Review the displayed OS build number.
4. Alternatively, run the following PowerShell command:
   Copy

   Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object OsName, OsVersion

If the server is running a Windows Server 2022 build earlier than 10.0.20348.1970, update the operating system.