Text in Outlook that represents internet and network paths must not be automatically turned into hyperlinks.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-251872	DTOO425	SV-251872r812968_rule		Medium

Description

The ability of Outlook to automatically turn text that represents internet and network paths into hyperlinks would allow users to click on those hyperlinks in an email message and access malicious or otherwise harmful websites.

STIG	Date
Microsoft Outlook 2016 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2022-03-11

Details

Check Text (C-55329r811193_chk)

Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Outlook 2016 >> Outlook Options >> "Internet and network path into hyperlinks" is set to "Disabled".

Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key:

HKCU\software\policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\autoformat

Criteria: If the value pgrfafo_25_1 is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-55284r811194_fix)

Set the policy User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Outlook 2016 >> Outlook Options >> "Internet and network path into hyperlinks" must be set to "Disabled".