Title

Word 2 and earlier binary documents and templates must be blocked for open/save. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

This setting specifies whether users can open, view, edit, or save Word files saved in the specified format. Enabling block of the specified format mitigates zero-day security attacks (which are attacks that occur during between the time that a vulnerability becomes publicly known and a software update or service pack is available) by temporarily preventing users from opening specific types of files and to prevent a user from opening files that have been saved in earlier and pre-release (beta) Microsoft Office formats.

Check Content

Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Word 2013 -> Word Options -> Security -> Trust Center -> File Block Settings "Word 2 and earlier binary documents and templates" is set to "Enabled: Open/Save blocked, use open policy". Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\word\security\fileblock Criteria: If the value Word2Files is REG_DWORD = 2, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Word 2013 -> Word Options -> Security -> Trust Center -> File Block Settings "Word 2 and earlier binary documents and templates" to "Enabled: Open/Save blocked, use open policy".

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-53590r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-26653

Group Title: DTOO333 - Word 2 and earlier binary documents

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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