Details

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.

Solution

Set the policy value for User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Word 2013 -> Word Options -> Security -> Trust Center -> File Block Settings ‘Word 2 and earlier binary documents and templates’ to ‘Enabled: Open/Save blocked, use open policy’.

Supportive Information

The following resource is also helpful.

• https://iasecontent.disa.mil/stigs/zip/U_MS_Word_2013_V1R6_STIG.zip

This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: System and Communications Protection.This control applies to the following type of system Windows.

References

• 800-53|SC-18(1)
• CAT|II
• CCI|CCI-001662
• Rule-ID|SV-53590r1_rule
• STIG-ID|DTOO333
• Vuln-ID|V-26653

Source

• Tenable.com/audits