Title

Bind to Object - Excel (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Internet Explorer performs a number of safety checks before initializing an ActiveX control. It will not initialize a control if the kill bit for the control is set in the registry, or if the security settings for the zone in which the control is located do not allow it to be initialized. This functionality can be controlled separately for instances of Internet Explorer spawned by 2007 Office applications (for example, if a user clicks a link in an Office document or selects a menu option that loads a web page). A security risk could occur if potentially dangerous controls are allowed to load.

Check Content

Validate the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2007 system (Machine) >> Security Settings >> IE Security “Bind to Object” is set to “Enabled” and "excel.exe" check box is checked. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_SAFE_BINDTOOBJECT Criteria: If the value excel.exe is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2007 system (Machine) >> Security Settings >> IE Security “Bind to Object” to “Enabled” and select the "excel.exe" check box.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-18185r2_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-17174

Group Title:

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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