RSS Feeds must be disallowed.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-17808	DTOO282	SV-54055r1_rule	ECSC-1	Medium

Description
Users can subscribe to RSS feeds from within Outlook and read RSS items like email messages. If an organization has policies that govern the use of external resources such as RSS feeds, allowing users to subscribe to the RSS feed in Outlook will enable them to violate those policies.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Outlook 2013 STIG	2014-01-06

Details

Check Text ( C-47995r2_chk )
NOTE: Some operational environments may elect to allow use of RSS feeds integrated into Outlook, provided there is a mission need and the network environment meets the following criteria: - both the website issuing the RSS feeds and the Outlook email client have an available network path to each other. - neither the website issuing the RSS feeds nor the Outlook email client has a network path to the public Internet. An example of such an environment would be a closed lab or other deployed network where the requisite signoffs, artifacts, and network documentation demonstrate that the public Internet is not available to the Outlook client, preventing unauthorized RSS subscriptions being accessed by users of the Outlook client. Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2013 -> Account Settings -> RSS Feeds "Turn off RSS feature" is set to "Enabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\outlook\options\rss Criteria: If the environment meets the above stated criteria, and value "Enabled" is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding. For all environments where the Outlook email client has access to public Internet websites, RSS integration into Outlook is not permitted, and should be validated as follows: ================================= The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2013 -> Account Settings -> RSS Feeds "Turn off RSS feature" is set to "Enabled". Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\outlook\options\rss Criteria: If the value Enabled is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-47995r2_chk )

NOTE:
Some operational environments may elect to allow use of RSS feeds integrated into Outlook, provided there is a mission need and the network environment meets the following criteria:
- both the website issuing the RSS feeds and the Outlook email client have an available network path to each other.
- neither the website issuing the RSS feeds nor the Outlook email client has a network path to the public Internet.

An example of such an environment would be a closed lab or other deployed network where the requisite signoffs, artifacts, and network documentation demonstrate that the public Internet is not available to the Outlook client, preventing unauthorized RSS subscriptions being accessed by users of the Outlook client.

Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2013 -> Account Settings -> RSS Feeds "Turn off RSS feature" is set to "Enabled".

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

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\outlook\options\rss

Criteria: If the environment meets the above stated criteria, and value "Enabled" is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

For all environments where the Outlook email client has access to public Internet websites, RSS integration into Outlook is not permitted, and should be validated as follows:
=================================

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2013 -> Account Settings -> RSS Feeds "Turn off RSS feature" is set to "Enabled".

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

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\outlook\options\rss

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

Fix Text (F-46935r2_fix)
NOTE: If the use of RSS feeds integrated into Outlook is a mission need, and the network environment is configured with the following criteria: 1. Both the website issuing the RSS feeds and the Outlook email client must have an available network path to each other. 2. Neither the website issuing the RSS feeds nor the Outlook email client has a network path to the public Internet. Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2013 -> Account Settings -> RSS Feeds "Turn off RSS feature" to "Enabled". For all environments where the Outlook email clients have access to public Internet websites, RSS integration into Outlook is not permitted, and should be configured as follows: ================================= Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2013 -> Account Settings -> RSS Feeds "Turn off RSS feature" to "Enabled".

Fix Text (F-46935r2_fix)

NOTE:
If the use of RSS feeds integrated into Outlook is a mission need, and the network environment is configured with the following criteria:
1. Both the website issuing the RSS feeds and the Outlook email client must have an available network path to each other.
2. Neither the website issuing the RSS feeds nor the Outlook email client has a network path to the public Internet.

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2013 -> Account Settings -> RSS Feeds "Turn off RSS feature" to "Enabled".

For all environments where the Outlook email clients have access to public Internet websites, RSS integration into Outlook is not permitted, and should be configured as follows:
=================================

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Outlook 2013 -> Account Settings -> RSS Feeds "Turn off RSS feature" to "Enabled".