Title

Disallowance of trusted locations on the network must be enforced. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Files located in Trusted Locations and specified in the Trust Center are typically assumed to be safe. Content, code, and add-ins are allowed to load from Trusted Locations with minimal security and without prompting the user for permission. By default, users can specify Trusted Locations on network shares, or in other remote locations not under their direct control, by selecting the "Allow Trusted Locations on my network" (not recommended) check box in the Trusted Locations section of the Trust Center. If a dangerous file is opened from a trusted location, it will not be subject to typical security measures and could affect users' computers or data.

Check Content

Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Word 2013 -> Word Options -> Security -> Trust Center -> Trusted Locations "Allow Trusted Locations on the network" is set to "Disabled". Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\word\security\trusted locations Criteria: If the value AllowNetworkLocations is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Word 2013 -> Word Options -> Security -> Trust Center -> Trusted Locations "Allow Trusted Locations on the network" to "Disabled".

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-53572r1_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-17520

Group Title: DTOO134 - Trusted locations on computer

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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