Automatic receiving of small updates to improve reliability must be disallowed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-228530	DTOO185	SV-228530r508020_rule		Medium

Description
Having access to updates, add-ins, and patches on the Office Online website can help users ensure computers are up to date and equipped with the latest security patches. However, to ensure updates are tested and applied in a consistent manner, many organizations prefer to roll out updates using a centralized mechanism such as Microsoft Systems Center or Windows Server Update Services. By default, users are allowed to download updates, add-ins, and patches from the Office Online Web site to keep their Office applications running smoothly and securely. If an organization has policies that govern the use of external resources such as Office Online, allowing users to download updates might cause them to violate these policies.

Description

Having access to updates, add-ins, and patches on the Office Online website can help users ensure computers are up to date and equipped with the latest security patches. However, to ensure updates are tested and applied in a consistent manner, many organizations prefer to roll out updates using a centralized mechanism such as Microsoft Systems Center or Windows Server Update Services. By default, users are allowed to download updates, add-ins, and patches from the Office Online Web site to keep their Office applications running smoothly and securely. If an organization has policies that govern the use of external resources such as Office Online, allowing users to download updates might cause them to violate these policies.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Office System 2013 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2020-09-25

Details

Check Text ( C-30763r498868_chk )
Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2013 >> Privacy >> Trust Center "Automatically receive small updates to improve reliability" is set to "Disabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\common If the value 'UpdateReliabilityData' is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-30763r498868_chk )

Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2013 >> Privacy >> Trust Center "Automatically receive small updates to improve reliability" is set to "Disabled".

Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\common

If the value 'UpdateReliabilityData' is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-30748r498869_fix)
Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 -> Privacy -> Trust Center "Automatically receive small updates to improve reliability" to "Disabled".