Navigation to URLs embedded in Office products must be blocked.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-40895	DTOO123	SV-53238r1_rule		Medium

Description
To protect users from attacks, Internet Explorer usually does not attempt to load malformed URLs. This functionality can be controlled separately for instances of Internet Explorer spawned by Office applications (for example, if a user clicks a link in an Office document or selects a menu option that loads a web page). If Internet Explorer attempts to load a malformed URL, a security risk could occur.

Description

To protect users from attacks, Internet Explorer usually does not attempt to load malformed URLs. This functionality can be controlled separately for instances of Internet Explorer spawned by Office applications (for example, if a user clicks a link in an Office document or selects a menu option that loads a web page). If Internet Explorer attempts to load a malformed URL, a security risk could occur.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Publisher 2013 STIG	2018-04-04

Details

Check Text ( C-47545r1_chk )
Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security "Navigate URL" must be "Enabled" and a check in the 'mspub.exe' check box must be present. Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_VALIDATE_NAVIGATE_URL Criteria: If the value mspub.exe is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-47545r1_chk )

Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security "Navigate URL" must be "Enabled" and a check in the 'mspub.exe' check box must be present.

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

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_VALIDATE_NAVIGATE_URL

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

Fix Text (F-46165r1_fix)
Set the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security "Navigate URL" to "Enabled" and place a check in the 'mspub.exe' check box.