Title

Internet with Safe Zones for Picture Download must be disabled. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

This policy setting controls whether pictures and external content in HTML e-mail messages from untrusted senders on the Internet are downloaded without Outlook users explicitly choosing to do so. If you enable this policy setting, Outlook will automatically download external content in all e-mail messages sent over the Internet and users will not be able to change the setting. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, Outlook does not consider the Internet a safe zone, which means that Outlook will not automatically download content from external servers unless the sender is included in the Safe Senders list. Recipients can choose to download external content from untrusted senders on a message-by-message basis.

Check Content

Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2016 -> Security -> Automatic Picture Download Settings "Include Internet in Safe Zones for Automatic Picture Download" is set to "Disabled". Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\outlook\options\mail Criteria: If the value Internet is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2016 -> Security -> Automatic Picture Download Settings "Include Internet in Safe Zones for Automatic Picture Download" to "Disabled".

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-228462r508021_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-228462

Group Title: SRG-APP-000516

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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