6.9 Do Not Accept Third Party Cookies

Information

This setting enables or disables the ability for third-party cookies to be downloaded to the system. Third party cookies are cookies sent by a domain that differs from the domain in the browser's address bar.

Rationale:

Third party cookies are often used for tracking user browsing behaviors, which has privacy implications. However, preventing third-party cookies does not completely mitigate privacy concerns as several other active tracking mechanisms exist [1].

Impact:

Blocking third-party cookies may adversely affect the functionality of some sites.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration, set network.cookie.cookieBehavior to 1:

Type about:config in the address bar

Type network.cookie.cookieBehavior in the filter

Ensure the setting is set as prescribed.

OR

Open the mozilla.cfg file in the installation directory with a text editor

Add the following lines to mozilla.cfg:

lockPref('network.cookie.cookieBehavior', 1);

Default Value:

5

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/4299

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b.

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 39d1d826a7ca57efff2dd8d52c6d771b55dedbe2ade1198ef24206fd9e43ba57