Title

Disable "Open documents as Read Write when browsing" feature. - Office (Cat II impact)

Discussion

By default, when users browse to an 2007 Office document on a Web server using Internet Explorer, the appropriate application opens the file in read-only mode. However, if the default configuration is changed, the document is opened as read/write. Users could potentially make changes to documents and resave them in situations where the Web server security is not configured to prevent such changes.

Check Content

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2007 system -> Tools \ Options \ General \ Web Options -> Files “Open Office documents as read/write while browsing” 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\Internet Criteria: If the value OpenDocumentsReadWriteWhileBrowsing is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2007 system -> Tools \ Options \ General \ Web Options -> Files “Open Office documents as read/write while browsing” 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-18956r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-17759

Group Title:

Expert Comments

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