Title

Internet Explorer must be configured to disallow users to change policies. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Users who change their Internet Explorer security settings could enable the execution of dangerous types of code from the Internet and web sites listed in the Restricted Sites zone in the browser. This setting prevents users from changing the Internet Explorer policies on the machine. Policy changes should be made by administrators only, so this setting should be enabled. If you enable this policy setting, you disable the Custom level button and Security level for this zone slider on the Security tab in the Internet Options dialog box. If this policy setting is disabled or not configured, users will be able to change the settings for security zones. It prevents users from changing security zone policy settings that are established by the administrator.

Check Content

The policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Internet Explorer “Security Zones: Do not allow users to change policies” must be “Enabled”. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings Criteria: If the value Security_options_edit is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Internet Explorer “Security Zones: Do not allow users to change policies” to “Enabled”.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-40552r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-3428

Group Title: DTBI319 - Changing of policies

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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