DTOO188 - Office - Protect document metadata for password protected files.

Information

By default, when an Office Open XML document is protected with a password and saved, any metadata associated with the document is encrypted along with the rest of the document's contents. If this configuration is changed, potentially sensitive information such as the document author and hyperlink references could be exposed to unauthorized people.

Solution

The policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2007 system -> Security Settings 'Protect document metadata for password protected files' will be set to 'Enabled'.

'Note - Group Policy Administrative Templates are available from the www.microsoft.com download site. The MS Office 2007 System (Office12.adm) is included in the AdminTemplates.exe file. This template provides the mechanisms to incorporate Microsoft Office 2007 System policies via the Microsoft Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).'

'Note - If the Microsoft Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is not used to incorporate the remediation to this vulnerability the Microsoft Registry Editor (regedit.exe) may be used to create the registry key and value required.'

See Also

http://iase.disa.mil/stigs/app_security/office_auto/u_microsoft_office2007_v4r9_stig_20121026.zip

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|SC-13, CAT|II, Rule-ID|SV-18974r3_rule, STIG-ID|DTOO188, Vuln-ID|V-17768

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 57eece8fa6475af9fd1ac56e0d55d880ab8b1481b18b95a39db1671a785730f5