The opening of pre-release versions of file formats new to Excel 2013 through the Compatibility Pack for Office 2013 and Excel 2013 Converter must be blocked.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-17322	DTOO210	SV-53824r1_rule		Medium

Description
By default, users are prompted to update automatic links.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Excel 2013 STIG	2018-04-03

Details

Check Text ( C-47889r1_chk )
Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 -> Office 2013 Converters -> "Block opening of pre-release versions of file formats new to Excel 2013 through the Compatibility Pack for Office 2013 and Excel 2013 Converter" is set to "Enabled". Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\software\policies\Microsoft\office\15.0\excel\security\fileblock Criteria: If the value excel12betafilesfromconverters is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-47889r1_chk )

Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 -> Office 2013 Converters -> "Block opening of pre-release versions of file formats new to Excel 2013 through the Compatibility Pack for Office 2013 and Excel 2013 Converter" is set to "Enabled".

Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key:

HKCU\software\policies\Microsoft\office\15.0\excel\security\fileblock

Criteria: If the value excel12betafilesfromconverters is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-46733r1_fix)
Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 -> Office 2013 Converters -> "Block opening of pre-release versions of file formats new to Excel 2013 through the Compatibility Pack for Office 2013 and Excel 2013 Converter" to "Enabled".