SV-221586r960879: Deletion of browser history must be disabled. | Google Chrome Current Windows STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Deletion of browser history must be disabled.

Description

Discussion Text

Disabling this function will prevent users from deleting their browsing history, which could be used to identify malicious websites and files that could later be used for anti-virus and Intrusion Detection System (IDS) signatures. Furthermore, preventing users from deleting browsing history could be used to identify abusive web surfing on government systems.

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000169SV-89845V-75165

References

DPMS Target Google Chrome Current Windows DISA DPMS Target Google Chrome Current Windows 4081

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

Universal method: 
 1. In the omnibox (address bar) type chrome://policy 
 2. If the policy "AllowDeletingBrowserHistory" is not shown or is not set to false, this is a finding.

Windows method:
 1. Start regedit
 2. Navigate to HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\
 3. If the "AllowDeletingBrowserHistory" value name does not exist or its value data is not set to "0",  this is a finding.

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

# Windows PowerShell
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.stig.chrome:def:240052
# Deletion of browser history must be disabled.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# Check to make sure that google chrome is set to not allow deletion of browser and download hisotry.
# registry_object (registry_test)
function test_1 {
  return (((@{String='reg_sz';ExpandString='reg_expand_sz';Binary='reg_binary';DWord='reg_dword';MultiString='reg_multi_sz';QWord='reg_qword';None='reg_none'}[(Get-Item -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome').GetValueKind('AllowDeletingBrowserHistory').ToString()]) -eq 'reg_dword') -and (((Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome' -Name 'AllowDeletingBrowserHistory' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'AllowDeletingBrowserHistory') -eq 0))
}

if (test_1) {
  Write-Output "PASS"
} else {
  Write-Output "FAIL"
}

Assessment Script Powered by AISyntax-verified

A standalone PowerShell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked as valid PowerShell. Not executed here — running it for real needs the actual google_chrome target this check assesses.

# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.chrome:def:240052
if (!(Test-Path -Path "HKLM:\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\AllowDeletingBrowserHistory") -or ((Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\AllowDeletingBrowserHistory").psobject.Properties.Value -eq 0)) { Write-Output "PASS"; Exit 0 } else { Write-Output "FAIL"; Exit 1 }

Remediation

Windows group policy:
 1. Open the group policy editor tool with gpedit.msc 
 2. Navigate to Policy Path: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Google\Google Chrome\
 Policy Name: Enable deleting browser and download history
 Policy State: Disabled
 Policy Value: N/A