Title

Configure the "disable hyperlink warnings" for Office to Disable. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Unsafe hyperlinks are links that might pose a security risk if users click them. Clicking an unsafe link could compromise the security of sensitive information or harm the computer. Links that 2007 Office considers unsafe include links to executable files, TIFF files, and Microsoft Document Imaging (MDI) files. Other unsafe links are those that use protocols considered to be unsafe, including msn, nntp, mms, outlook, and stssync. By default, 2007 Office applications notify users about unsafe hyperlinks and disable them until users enable them.

Check Content

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2007 system -> Security Settings “Disable hyperlink warnings” will be set to “Disabled”. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Security Criteria: If the value DisableHyperLinkWarning is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2007 system -> Security Settings “Disable hyperlink warnings” will be set to “Disabled”. "Note: Group Policy Administrative Templates are available from the www.microsoft.com download site. The MS Office 2007 System (Office12.adm) is included in the AdminTemplates.exe file. This template provides the mechanisms to incorporate Microsoft Office 2007 System policies via the Microsoft Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)." "Note: If the Microsoft Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is not used to incorporate the remediation to this vulnerability the Microsoft Registry Editor (regedit.exe) may be used to create the registry key and value required."

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-18814r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-17659

Group Title:

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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