Title

Navigation to URL's embedded in Office products must be blocked. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

To protect users from attacks, Internet Explorer usually does not attempt to load malformed URLs. This functionality can be controlled separately for instances of Internet Explorer spawned by Office applications (for example, if a user clicks a link in an Office document or selects a menu option that loads a Web page). If Internet Explorer attempts to load a malformed URL, a security risk could occur in some cases.

Check Content

The policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2010 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security “Navigate URL” must be “Enabled” and a check in the ‘mspub.exe’ check box must be present. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_VALIDATE_NAVIGATE_URL Criteria: If the value mspub.exe is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2010 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security “Navigate URL” to “Enabled” and place a check in the ‘mspub.exe’ check box.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-33900r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-17183

Group Title: DTOO123-Block Navigation to URL from Office

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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