Title

Pre-release versions of file formats new to Office Products must be blocked. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

The Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Excel 2010 File Formats installed can open Office Open XML files saved with pre-release versions of Excel 2010. Excel Open XML files usually have the following extensions: .xlsx, .xlsm, .xltx, .xltm, .xlam.

Check Content

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2010 -> Office 2010 Converters “Block opening of pre-release versions of file formats new to Excel 2010 through the Compatibility Pack for Office 2010 and Excel 2010 Converter” must be set to “Enabled”. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\excel\security\fileblock Criteria: If the value Excel12BetaFilesFromConverters is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2010 -> Office 2010 Converters “Block opening of pre-release versions of file formats new to Excel 2010 through the Compatibility Pack for Office 2010 and Excel 2010 Converter” to “Enabled”.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-33448r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-17322

Group Title: DTOO210 - Block opening of pre-release versions

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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