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

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-71093	DTOO333	SV-85717r1_rule		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 2016 STIG	2016-12-21

Details

Check Text ( None )
None

Fix Text (F-46514r1_fix)
Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Word 2016 -> Word Options -> Security -> Trust Center -> File Block Settings "Word 2 and earlier binary documents and templates" to "Enabled: Open/Save blocked, use open policy".