SV-235728r960963: Network prediction must be disabled. | Microsoft Edge STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

Network prediction must be disabled.

Description

Discussion Text

Enables network prediction and prevents users from changing this setting. This controls DNS prefetching, TCP and SSL pre-connection, and pre-rendering of web pages. If this policy is not configured, network prediction is enabled but the user can change it. Policy options mapping: - NetworkPredictionAlways (0) = Predict network actions on any network connection. - NetworkPredictionWifiOnly (1) = Not supported; if this value is used it will be treated as if "Predict network actions on any network connection" (0) was set. - NetworkPredictionNever (2) = Do not predict network actions on any network connection.

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

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000381

References

DPMS Target Microsoft Edge DISA DPMS Target Microsoft Edge 5280

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

The policy value for "Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Microsoft Edge/Enable network prediction" must be set to "Enabled" with the option value set to "Don't predict network actions on any network connection".

Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge

If the value for NetworkPredictionOptions is not set to "REG_DWORD = 2", 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.edge:def:106
# Network prediction 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 if the MS Edge setting 'Enable network prediction' is set to 'Enabled' and 'Don't predict network actions on any network connection'
# 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\Microsoft\Edge').GetValueKind('NetworkPredictionOptions').ToString()]) -eq 'reg_dword') -and (((Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge' -Name 'NetworkPredictionOptions' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'NetworkPredictionOptions') -eq 2))
}

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 ms_edge target this check assesses.

# OVAL Definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.edge:def:106
if (!(Test-Path -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\NetworkPredictionOptions" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -or (!(Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\NetworkPredictionOptions" -Name "Enable network prediction" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Enable_network_prediction -eq 2)) { Write-Output "FAIL"; Exit 1 } else { Write-Output "PASS"; Exit 0 }

Remediation

Set the policy value for "Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Microsoft Edge/Enable network prediction" to "Enabled" with the option value set to "Don't predict network actions on any network connection".