Title

The Allow META REFRESH property must be disallowed (Restricted Sites zone). (Cat II impact)

Discussion

It is possible that users will unknowingly be redirected to a site hosting malicious content. 'Allow META REFRESH' must have a level of protection based upon the site being browsed. This policy setting allows you to manage whether a user's browser can be redirected to another web page if the author of the web page uses the Meta Refresh setting to redirect browsers to another web page.

Check Content

The policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Internet Explorer -> Internet Control Panel -> Security Page -> Restricted Sites Zone -> 'Allow META REFRESH' must be 'Enabled', and 'Disable' selected from the drop-down box. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\4 Criteria: If the value "1608" is REG_DWORD = 3, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Internet Explorer -> Internet Control Panel -> Security Page -> Restricted Sites Zone -> 'Allow META REFRESH' to 'Enabled', and select 'Disable' from the drop-down box.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-223063r879887_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-223063

Group Title: SRG-APP-000516

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.