1.2.5.1.8 (L1) Ensure 'Navigate URL' is set to 'Enabled'

Information

This setting controls whether Internet Explorer attempts to load malformed URLs that are passed to it from Office applications.

The recommended state for this setting is: Enabled: groove.exe, excel.exe, mspub.exe, powerpnt.exe, pptview.exe, visio.exe, winproj.exe, winword.exe, outlook.exe, spDesign.exe, exprwd.exe, msaccess.exe, onent.exe, mse7.exe

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 in some cases.

Solution

To establish the recommended state via configuration profiles, set the following Settings Catalog path to Enabled: check all applications :

Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine)\Security Settings\IE Security\Navigate URL

Impact:

Enabling this setting does not block any legitimate URLs and is therefore unlikely to cause usability issues for any Office users.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/15808

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|SC-7(3), 800-53|SC-7(4)

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: a80a261b52ddfc67caccca184a441759864c8eca03b54d573df756e8e09cc975