Title

Update of automatic links must be configured to prompt. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

If an Excel workbook contains links to other documents and users are not prompted to approve them, the contents of the workbook might change without the users' knowledge because the linked files have changed. By default, users are prompted to update automatic links.

Check Content

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Excel 2010 -> Excel Options -> Advanced “Ask to update automatic links” 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\options\binaryoptions Criteria: If the value fUpdateExt_78_1 is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Excel 2010 -> Excel Options -> Advanced “Ask to update automatic links” to “Enabled”.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-33434r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-17732

Group Title: DTOO150 - Automatic Link Updates

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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