Office must be configured to not allow read with browsers.

From Microsoft Office System 2013 STIG

Part of DTOO200 - Allow users to read with browsers

SV-52749r2_rule Office must be configured to not allow read with browsers.

Vulnerability discussion

The Windows Rights Management Add-on for Internet Explorer provides a way for users who do not use the 2013 Office release to view, but not alter, files with restricted permissions. By default, IRM-enabled files are saved in a format that cannot be viewed by using the Windows Rights Management Add-on. If this setting is enabled, an embedded rights-managed HTML version of the content is saved with each IRM-enabled file, which can be viewed in Internet Explorer using the add-on, representing the risk of documents being read by those without the rights and not intended to have access to the document.

Check content

Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2013 >> Manage Restricted Permissions "Allow users with earlier versions of Office to read with browsers" is set to "Disabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following hive: HKEY_Users For every users profile hive under HKEY_Users, navigate to the following key: \Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\common\drm If the value “IncludeHTML” is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix text

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2013 -> Manage Restricted Permissions "Allow users with earlier versions of Office to read with browsers" to "Disabled".

Pro Tips

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You can obtain data about documents and items in other formats. Simply provide an HTTP header Accept: text/turtle or Accept: application/rdf+xml.