Title

Navigation to URLs embedded in Office products must be blocked. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

To protect users from attacks, Internet Explorer usually does not attempt to load malformed URLs. This functionality can be controlled separately for instances of Internet Explorer spawned by Office applications (for example, if a user clicks a link in an Office document or selects a menu option that loads a web page). If Internet Explorer attempts to load a malformed URL, a security risk could occur.

Check Content

Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security "Navigate URL" is set to "Enabled" and 'excel.exe' is checked. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_VALIDATE_NAVIGATE_URL 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 2016 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security "Navigate URL" to "Enabled" and place a check in the 'excel.exe' check box.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-238173r879630_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-238173

Group Title: SRG-APP-000210

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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