Title

Beaconing UI forms opened in Editor ActiveX - InfoPath (Cat II impact)

Discussion

InfoPath 2007 makes it possible to host InfoPath forms in other applications as ActiveX controls. Such controls are known as InfoPath form controls. A malicious user could insert a Web beacon into one of these controls which could be used to contact an external server when the user opens the form. Information could be gathered by the form, or information entered by users could be sent to an external server and cause them to be vulnerable to additional attacks. By default, InfoPath form controls warn users about potential Web beaconing threats.

Check Content

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 -> Security -> “Beaconing UI for forms opened in InfoPath Editor ActiveX” will be set to “Enabled (Always show beaconing UI)”. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\InfoPath\Security Criteria: If the value EditorActiveXBeaconingUI is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 -> Security -> “Beaconing UI for forms opened in InfoPath Editor ActiveX” will be set to “Enabled (Always show beaconing UI)”.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-18932r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-17746

Group Title: DTOO165 - Beaconing UI /forms opened Activex

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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