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Legacy format signatures should be enabled - Office


Overview

Finding ID Version Rule ID IA Controls Severity
V-17749 DTOO203 - Office SV-18937r1_rule ECSC-1 Medium
Description
By default, 2007 Office applications use the XML–based XMLDSIG format to attach digital signatures to documents, including Office 97-2003 binary documents. XMLDSIG signatures are not recognized by Office 2003 applications or previous versions. If an Office 2003 user opens an Excel, PowerPoint, or Word binary document with an XMLDSIG signature attached, the signature will be lost.
STIG Date
Microsoft Office System 2007 2015-10-02

Details

Check Text ( C-19011r1_chk )
The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2007 system -> Signing “Legacy format signatures” will be set to “Enabled”.

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

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Signatures

Criteria: If the value XPCompatibleSignatureFormat is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.
Fix Text (F-17648r1_fix)
The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2007 system -> Signing “Legacy format signatures” will be set to “Enabled”.

"Note: Group Policy Administrative Templates are available from the www.microsoft.com download site. The MS Office 2007 System (Office12.adm) is included in the AdminTemplates.exe file. This template provides the
mechanisms to incorporate Microsoft Office 2007 System policies via the Microsoft Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)."

"Note: If the Microsoft Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is not used to incorporate the remediation to this vulnerability the Microsoft Registry Editor (regedit.exe) may be used to create the registry key and value required."