McAfee VirusScan On-Access Default Processes Policies must be configured to find unknown macro viruses.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-14627	DTAM105	SV-55231r1_rule		Medium

Description
Due to the ability of malware to mutate after infection, standard antivirus signatures may not be able to catch new strains or variants of the malware. Typically, these strains and variants will share unique characteristics with others in their virus family. By using a generic signature to detect the shared characteristics, using wildcards where differences lie, the generic signature can detect viruses even if they are padded with extra, meaningless code. This method of detection is Heuristic detection.

Description

Due to the ability of malware to mutate after infection, standard antivirus signatures may not be able to catch new strains or variants of the malware. Typically, these strains and variants will share unique characteristics with others in their virus family. By using a generic signature to detect the shared characteristics, using wildcards where differences lie, the generic signature can detect viruses even if they are padded with extra, meaningless code. This method of detection is Heuristic detection.

STIG	Date
McAfee VirusScan 8.8 Managed Client STIG	2016-06-30

Details

Check Text ( C-48821r2_chk )
From the ePO server console System Tree, select the Systems tab, select the asset to be checked, select Actions, select Agent, and select Modify Policies on a Single System. From the product pull down list, select VirusScan Enterprise 8.8.0. Select from the Policy column the policy associated with the On-Access Default Processes Policies. Under the Scan Items tab, locate the "Heuristics:" label. Ensure the "Find unknown macro threats" option is selected. Criteria: If the "Find unknown macro threats" option is selected, this is not a finding. On the client machine, use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\McAfee\ (32-bit) HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\McAfee\ (64-bit) SystemCore\VSCore\On Access Scanner\McShield\Configuration\Default Criteria: If the value dwMacroHeuristicsLevel is 1, this is not a finding. If the value is 0, this is a finding.

Check Text ( C-48821r2_chk )

From the ePO server console System Tree, select the Systems tab, select the asset to be checked, select Actions, select Agent, and select Modify Policies on a Single System. From the product pull down list, select VirusScan Enterprise 8.8.0. Select from the Policy column the policy associated with the On-Access Default Processes Policies. Under the Scan Items tab, locate the "Heuristics:" label. Ensure the "Find unknown macro threats" option is selected.

Criteria: If the "Find unknown macro threats" option is selected, this is not a finding.

On the client machine, use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key:
HKLM\Software\McAfee\ (32-bit)
HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\McAfee\ (64-bit)
SystemCore\VSCore\On Access Scanner\McShield\Configuration\Default

Criteria: If the value dwMacroHeuristicsLevel is 1, this is not a finding. If the value is 0, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-48086r2_fix)
From the ePO server console System Tree, select the Systems tab, select the asset to be checked, select Actions, select Agent, and select Modify Policies on a Single System. From the product pull down list, select VirusScan Enterprise 8.8.0. Select from the Policy column the policy associated with the On-Access Default Processes Policies. Under the Scan Items tab, locate the "Heuristics:" label. Select the "Find unknown macro threats" option. Select Save.

Fix Text (F-48086r2_fix)