Title

Turn on Protected Mode internet zone is not enabled. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Protected mode protects Internet Explorer from exploited vulnerabilities by reducing the locations Internet Explorer can write to in the registry and the file system. If you enable this policy setting, Protected Mode will be turned on. Users will not be able to turn off protected mode. If you disable this policy setting, Protected Mode will be turned off. It will revert to Internet Explorer 6 behavior that allows for Internet Explorer to write to the registry and the file system. Users will not be able to turn on protected mode. If you do not configure this policy, users will be able to turn on or off protected mode. Requires Windows Vista; will be ignored by Windows XP.

Check Content

The policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Internet Explorer -> Internet Control Panel -> Security Page -> Internet Zone -> "Turn on Protected Mode" will be set to “Enabled” and "Enable" selected from down drop box. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\3 Criteria: If the value 2500 is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

The policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Internet Explorer -> Internet Control Panel -> Security Page -> Internet Zone -> "Turn on Protected Mode" will be set to “Enabled” and "Enable" selected from down drop box. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\3 Criteria: Set the value 2500 to REG_DWORD = 0.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-16374r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-15527

Group Title:

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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