Title

The ability to display level 1 attachments must be disallowed. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

This policy setting controls whether Outlook blocks potentially dangerous attachments designated Level 1. Outlook uses two levels of security to restrict users' access to files attached to e-mail messages or other items. Files with specific extensions can be categorized as Level 1 (users cannot view the file) or Level 2 (users can open the file after saving it to disk). Users can freely open files of types that are not categorized as Level 1 or Level 2. If you enable this policy setting, Outlook users can gain access to Level 1 file type attachments by first saving the attachments to disk and then opening them, as with Level 2 attachments. If you disable this policy setting, Level 1 attachments do not display under any circumstances. If you do not configure this policy setting, Outlook completely blocks access to Level 1 files, and requires users to save Level 2 files to disk before opening them.

Check Content

Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2016 -> Security -> Security Form Settings -> Attachment Security "Display Level 1 attachments" is set to "Disabled". Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\outlook\security Criteria: If the value ShowLevel1Attach is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2016 -> Security -> Security Form Settings -> Attachment Security "Display Level 1 attachments" to "Disabled".

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-228440r508021_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-228440

Group Title: SRG-APP-000207

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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