Title

Ability for users to enable or disable add-ons must be enforced. (Cat III impact)

Discussion

Users often choose to install add-ons that are not permitted by an organization's security policy. Such add-ons can pose a significant security and privacy risk to your network. This policy setting allows you to manage whether users have the ability to allow or deny add-ons through Add-On Manager. If you enable this policy setting, users cannot enable or disable add-ons through Add-On Manager. The only exception occurs if an add-on has been specifically entered into the 'Add-On List' policy setting in such a way as to allow users to continue to manage the add-on. In this case, the user can still manage the add-on. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, the appropriate controls in the Add-On Manager will be available to the user.

Check Content

The policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Internet Explorer -> “Do Not Allow Users to enable or Disable Add-Ons” must be “Disabled”. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions Criteria: If the value NoExtensionManagement does not exist or the value is set to REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Internet Explorer-> “Do Not Allow Users to enable or Disable Add-Ons” to “Disabled”.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-40529r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-14245

Group Title: DTBI697 - IE - Users enable or disable add-ons

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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