Title

McAfee VirusScan Access Protection Rules Common Standard Protection must be set to block and report when common programs are run from the Temp folder. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

This rule will block common programs from running from the Temp directory; however, this rule is much more restrictive in that it stops nearly all processes from launching in the Temp folder. Most viruses need to be run once by a person before infecting a computer. This can be done in many ways, such as opening an executable attachment in an email or downloading a program from the Internet. An executable needs to exist on the disk before Windows can run it. A common way for applications to achieve this is to save the file in the user's or system's Temp directory and then run it. One purpose of this rule is to enforce advice that is frequently given to users: "don't open attachments from email." The other purpose of this rule is to close security holes introduced by application bugs. Older versions of Outlook and Internet Explorer are notorious for automatically executing code without the user needing to do anything but preview an email or view a website.

Check Content

Note: If the HIPS signatures 7010 and 7035 are enabled to provide this same protection, this check is Not Applicable. From the ePO server console System Tree, select the Systems tab, select the asset to be checked, select Actions, select Agent, and select Modify Policies on a Single System. From the product pull down list, select VirusScan Enterprise 8.8.0. Select the policy associated with the Access Protection Policies. Under the Access Protection tab, locate the "Access protection rules:" label. In the "Categories" box, select "Common Standard Protection". Ensure the "Prevent common programs from running files from the Temp folder" (Block and Report) option is selected. Criteria: If the "Prevent common programs from running files from the Temp folder" (Block and Report) option is selected, this is not a finding. Registry keys are not available for this setting. To validate from client side, Access the local VirusScan console by clicking Start->All Programs->McAfee->VirusScan Console. Under the Task column, select Access Protection, right-click, and select Properties. Under the Access Protection tab, locate the "Access protection rules:" label. In the "Categories" box, select "Common Standard Protection". Ensure the "Prevent common programs from running files from the Temp folder" (Block and Report) option is selected. Criteria: If the "Prevent common programs from running files from the Temp folder" (Block and Report) option is selected, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

From the ePO server console System Tree, select the Systems tab, select the asset to be checked, select Actions, select Agent, and select Modify Policies on a Single System. From the product pull down list, select VirusScan Enterprise 8.8.0. Select the policy associated with the Access Protection Policies. Under the Access Protection tab, locate the "Access protection rules:" label. In the "Categories" box, select "Common Standard Protection". Select the "Prevent common programs from running files from the temp folder" (Block and Report) option. Select Save.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-216955r397873_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-216955

Group Title: SRG-APP-000279

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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