Navigation to URLs embedded in Office products must be blocked.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-70735	DTOO123	SV-85359r1_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 2016 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2017-01-19

Details

Check Text ( C-71219r3_chk )
Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security "Navigate URL" is set to "Enabled" and 'mspub.exe' is checked. 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-71219r3_chk )

Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security "Navigate URL" is set to "Enabled" and 'mspub.exe' is checked.

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-77061r1_fix)
Set the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security "Navigate URL" to "Enabled" and place a check in the 'mspub.exe' check box.