Beaconing UI forms opened in Editor ActiveX

Beaconing UI forms opened in Editor ActiveX - InfoPath

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-17746	DTOO165 - InfoPath	SV-18932r1_rule	ECSC-1	Medium

Description
InfoPath 2007 makes it possible to host InfoPath forms in other applications as ActiveX controls. Such controls are known as InfoPath form controls. A malicious user could insert a Web beacon into one of these controls which could be used to contact an external server when the user opens the form. Information could be gathered by the form, or information entered by users could be sent to an external server and cause them to be vulnerable to additional attacks. By default, InfoPath form controls warn users about potential Web beaconing threats.

Description

InfoPath 2007 makes it possible to host InfoPath forms in other applications as ActiveX controls. Such controls are known as InfoPath form controls. A malicious user could insert a Web beacon into one of these controls which could be used to contact an external server when the user opens the form. Information could be gathered by the form, or information entered by users could be sent to an external server and cause them to be vulnerable to additional attacks. By default, InfoPath form controls warn users about potential Web beaconing threats.

STIG	Date
Microsoft InfoPath 2007	2015-10-02

Details

Check Text ( C-19008r1_chk )
The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 -> Security -> “Beaconing UI for forms opened in InfoPath Editor ActiveX” will be set to “Enabled (Always show beaconing UI)”. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\InfoPath\Security Criteria: If the value EditorActiveXBeaconingUI is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-19008r1_chk )

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 -> Security -> “Beaconing UI for forms opened in InfoPath Editor ActiveX” will be set to “Enabled (Always show beaconing UI)”.

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

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\InfoPath\Security

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

Fix Text (F-17645r1_fix)
The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 -> Security -> “Beaconing UI for forms opened in InfoPath Editor ActiveX” will be set to “Enabled (Always show beaconing UI)”.