The Office client must be prevented from polling the SharePoint Server for published links.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-223286	O365-CO-000003	SV-223286r538226_rule		Medium

Description
This policy setting controls whether Office 365 ProPlus applications can poll Office servers to retrieve lists of published links. If this policy setting is enabled, Office 365 ProPlus applications cannot poll an Office server for published links. If this policy setting is disabled or not configured, users of Office 365 ProPlus applications can see and use links to Microsoft SharePoint Server sites from those applications. Published links can be configured to Office applications during initial deployment, and can add or change links as part of regular operations. These links appear on the My SharePoint Sites tab of the Open, Save, and Save As dialog boxes when opening and saving documents from these applications. Links can be targeted so they only appear to users who are members of particular audiences. Note: This policy setting applies to Microsoft SharePoint Server specifically. It does not apply to Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

Description

This policy setting controls whether Office 365 ProPlus applications can poll Office servers to retrieve lists of published links. If this policy setting is enabled, Office 365 ProPlus applications cannot poll an Office server for published links. If this policy setting is disabled or not configured, users of Office 365 ProPlus applications can see and use links to Microsoft SharePoint Server sites from those applications. Published links can be configured to Office applications during initial deployment, and can add or change links as part of regular operations. These links appear on the My SharePoint Sites tab of the Open, Save, and Save As dialog boxes when opening and saving documents from these applications. Links can be targeted so they only appear to users who are members of particular audiences. Note: This policy setting applies to Microsoft SharePoint Server specifically. It does not apply to Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus Security Technical Implementation Guide	2021-12-17

Details

Check Text ( C-24959r572107_chk )
Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2016 >> Server Settings >> Disable the Office client from polling the SharePoint Server for published links is set to "Enabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\portal If the value for linkpublishingdisabled is REG_DWORD = "1", this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-24959r572107_chk )

Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2016 >> Server Settings >> Disable the Office client from polling the SharePoint Server for published links is set to "Enabled".

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

HKCU\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\common\portal

If the value for linkpublishingdisabled is REG_DWORD = "1", this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-24947r572108_fix)
Set the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2016 >> Server Settings >> Disable the Office client from polling the SharePoint Server for published links to "Enabled".