Ensure 'Disable all Trust Bar notifications for security issues' is set to 'Disabled'

HighLevel 1Automatedoffice

Description

This policy setting controls whether Office applications notify users when potentially unsafe features or content are detected, or whether such features or content are silently disabled without notification. The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled. Rationale: The Message Bar in Office applications is used to identify security issues, such as unsigned macros or potentially unsafe add-ins. When such issues are detected, the application disables the unsafe feature or content and displays the Message Bar at the top of the active window. User setting: the audit checks HKEY_USERS\<SID>\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\trustcenter:trustbar (REG_DWORD) in every loaded user hive (S-1-5-21-*) and is compliant when each holds 0. It prints 'no-user-hive-loaded' (FAIL) when no user profile is loaded, so scan while users are logged on.

How it is checked

Audit method: Windows registry

registry

$sids = @(Get-ChildItem -Path 'Registry::HKEY_USERS' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object { $_.PSChildName -match '^S-1-5-21-\d+-\d+-\d+-\d+$' } | ForEach-Object { $_.PSChildName }); if ($sids.Count -eq 0) { 'no-user-hive-loaded' } else { $bad = @(); foreach ($s in $sids) { $v = (Get-ItemProperty -Path ('Registry::HKEY_USERS\' + $s + '\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\trustcenter') -Name 'trustbar' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).'trustbar'; if (-not ($null -ne $v -and @(0) -contains [int64]$v)) { $bad += $s + ':trustbar=' + $v } }; if ($bad.Count -eq 0) { 'compliant' } else { 'non-compliant: ' + ($bad -join ', ') } }

Expected output: compliant

How it is fixed

Fix method: Guidance or infrastructure patch

Configure through Group Policy (User Configuration): User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2016\Security Settings\Disable all Trust Bar notifications for security issues = Disabled

Properties

Operating systems: Any
Tags: officeproductivitycis-l1
Reference: CIS Microsoft Office Enterprise Benchmark v2.0.0 - 2.3.27.10 Ensure 'Disable all Trust Bar notifications for security issues' is set to 'Disabled'

Check this host

Run this on a machine you are allowed to audit. The scan is read-only.

shell

tmaegis scan --target office