Word 2 and earlier binary documents and templates must be blocked for open/save.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-26653	DTOO333	SV-53590r1_rule	ECSC-1	Medium

Description
This setting specifies whether users can open, view, edit, or save Word files saved in the specified format. Enabling block of the specified format mitigates zero-day security attacks (which are attacks that occur during between the time that a vulnerability becomes publicly known and a software update or service pack is available) by temporarily preventing users from opening specific types of files and to prevent a user from opening files that have been saved in earlier and pre-release (beta) Microsoft Office formats.

Description

This setting specifies whether users can open, view, edit, or save Word files saved in the specified format. Enabling block of the specified format mitigates zero-day security attacks (which are attacks that occur during between the time that a vulnerability becomes publicly known and a software update or service pack is available) by temporarily preventing users from opening specific types of files and to prevent a user from opening files that have been saved in earlier and pre-release (beta) Microsoft Office formats.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Word 2013 STIG	2014-01-06

Details

Check Text ( C-47736r1_chk )
Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Word 2013 -> Word Options -> Security -> Trust Center -> File Block Settings "Word 2 and earlier binary documents and templates" is set to "Enabled: Open/Save blocked, use open policy". Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\word\security\fileblock Criteria: If the value Word2Files is REG_DWORD = 2, this is not a finding.

Check Text ( C-47736r1_chk )

Verify the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Word 2013 -> Word Options -> Security -> Trust Center -> File Block Settings "Word 2 and earlier binary documents and templates" is set to "Enabled: Open/Save blocked, use open policy".

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

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\word\security\fileblock

Criteria: If the value Word2Files is REG_DWORD = 2, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-46514r1_fix)
Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Word 2013 -> Word Options -> Security -> Trust Center -> File Block Settings "Word 2 and earlier binary documents and templates" to "Enabled: Open/Save blocked, use open policy".