1.1.4.1.10 Ensure 'Protection From Zone Elevation' is set to 'Enabled'

Information

This policy setting prevents processes running in one zone from being elevated to higher privileges in another zone. Zone elevation attacks can be severe and happen relatively frequently.

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.

Rationale:

Internet Explorer places restrictions on each web page that 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.

Impact:

Websites that rely on navigation to other higher privileged sites may not properly function. To allow such websites to properly function, use Group Policy to add them to the Trusted sites zone.

NOTE: Enabling this setting also disables JavaScript navigation if no security context is present.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Enabled: Check all applications:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine)\Security Settings\IE Security\Protection From Zone Elevation

Default Value:

Not Configured

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/12129

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b.

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 8f1e67c9b7879d060990b6a49f7e40e1351d1d5e9ce9401821add9cc94e90342