Protection from zone elevation must be enforced.

From Microsoft Publisher 2016 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Associated with: CCI-001695

SV-85383r1_rule Protection from zone elevation must be enforced.

Vulnerability discussion

Internet Explorer places restrictions on each web page users can use the browser to open. Web pages on a user's local computer have the fewest security restrictions and reside in the Local Machine zone, making this security zone a prime target for malicious users and code. Disabling or not configuring this setting could allow pages in the Internet zone to navigate to pages in the Local Machine zone to then run code to elevate privileges. This could allow malicious code or users to become active on user computers or the network.

Check content

Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine) -> Security Settings -> IE Security "Protection From Zone Elevation" 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_ZONE_ELEVATION Criteria: If the value mspub.exe is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

Fix text

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

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