Trust Bar notification must be enabled for unsigned application add-ins in Excel and blocked.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-223337	SRG-APP-000131	O365-EX-000028	SV-223337r1016168_rule	2025-03-05	3

Description
This policy setting controls whether the specified Office 2016 applications notify users when unsigned application add-ins are loaded or silently disable such add-ins without notification. This policy setting only applies if the ''Require that application add-ins are signed by Trusted Publisher'' policy setting is enabled, which prevents users from changing this policy setting. If this policy setting is enabled, applications automatically disable unsigned add-ins without informing users. If this policy setting is disabled, if an application is configured to require that all add-ins be signed by a trusted publisher, any unsigned add-ins the application loads will be disabled and the application will display the Trust Bar at the top of the active window. The Trust Bar contains a message that informs users about the unsigned add-in. If this policy setting is not configured, the disable behavior applies, and in addition, users can configure this requirement themselves in the ''Add-ins'' category of the Trust Center for the application.

Description

This policy setting controls whether the specified Office 2016 applications notify users when unsigned application add-ins are loaded or silently disable such add-ins without notification. This policy setting only applies if the ''Require that application add-ins are signed by Trusted Publisher'' policy setting is enabled, which prevents users from changing this policy setting. If this policy setting is enabled, applications automatically disable unsigned add-ins without informing users. If this policy setting is disabled, if an application is configured to require that all add-ins be signed by a trusted publisher, any unsigned add-ins the application loads will be disabled and the application will display the Trust Bar at the top of the active window. The Trust Bar contains a message that informs users about the unsigned add-in. If this policy setting is not configured, the disable behavior applies, and in addition, users can configure this requirement themselves in the ''Add-ins'' category of the Trust Center for the application.

ℹ️ Check
Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Excel 2016 >> Excel Options >> Security >> Trust Center >> Disable Trust Bar Notification for unsigned application add-ins and block them is set to "Enabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\excel\security If the value for notbpromptunsignedaddin is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Verify the policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Excel 2016 >> Excel Options >> Security >> Trust Center >> Disable Trust Bar Notification for unsigned application add-ins and block them is set to "Enabled". Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKCU\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\excel\security If the value for notbpromptunsignedaddin is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

✔️ Fix
Set policy value for User Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Microsoft Excel 2016 >> Excel Options >> Security >> Trust Center >> Disable Trust Bar Notification for unsigned application add-ins and block them to "Enabled".