Title

Trust Bar notifications for Security messages must be enforced. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

The Message Bar in Office applications is used to identify security issues, such as unsigned macros or potentially unsafe add-ins. When such issues are detected, the application disables the unsafe feature or content and displays the Message Bar at the top of the active window. The Message Bar informs the users about the nature of the security issue and, in some cases, provides the users with an option to enable the potentially unsafe feature or content, which could harm the user's computer. By default, if an Office application detects a security issue, the Message Bar is displayed. However, this configuration can be modified by users in the Trust Center.

Check Content

Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2013 >> Security Settings "Disable all Trust Bar notifications for security issues" is set to "Disabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\common\trustcenter If the value 'TrustBar' is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 -> Security Settings "Disable all Trust Bar notifications for security issues" to "Disabled".

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-228551r508020_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-228551

Group Title: SRG-APP-000209

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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