O365-CO-000006 - Macros in all Office applications that are opened programmatically by another application must be opened based upon macro security level.

Information

This policy setting controls whether macros can run in an Office 365 ProPlus application that is opened programmatically by another application. If this policy setting is enabled, the user can choose from three options for controlling macro behavior in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word when the application is opened programmatically:

- Disable macros by default - all macros are disabled in the programmatically opened application.
- Macros enabled (default) - macros can run in the programmatically opened application. This option enforces the default configuration in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
- User application macro security level - macro functionality is determined by the setting in the 'Macro Settings' section of the Trust Center.

If this policy setting is disabled or not configured, when a separate program is used to launch Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, or Word programmatically, any macros can run in the programmatically opened application without being blocked.

Solution

Set the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Office 2016 >> Security Settings 'Automation Security' to 'Enabled (Use application macro security level)'.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_MS_Office_365_ProPlus_V3R1_STIG.zip

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|SC-18(4), CAT|II, CCI|CCI-001170, Rule-ID|SV-223289r961092_rule, STIG-ID|O365-CO-000006, STIG-Legacy|SV-108755, STIG-Legacy|V-99651, Vuln-ID|V-223289

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 0d6263021876faea079e05e970def48db1a957c64d764e3bca66396472fb12f5