CIS.M365.7.2.11: Ensure the SharePoint default sharing link permission is set

Not run by Mito today

This check needs a connection to SharePoint Online PowerShell, which Mito’s assessment does not set up. Mito reports it as skipped.

CIS Benchmark notice

This check implements a recommendation of the CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark. The benchmark text is © Center for Internet Security, Inc. and is not reproduced here beyond the short summary below. Get the full benchmark free of charge from cisecurity.org.

ID	CIS.M365.7.2.11
Severity	Medium
Suite	CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark
Product	SharePoint
Feature	Sharing links
Security area	Access control
Resource type	Tenant
User impact of fixing	Low
Effort to fix	Low
Benchmark	CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark 7.0.0, 7.2.11 (L1, E3 Level 1, E5 Level 1)
Framework controls	cis-m365:7.2.11 nist-800-53-r5:AC-6 Least Privilege
MITRE ATT&CK	T1080, T1565.001
Reads from	SharePoint Online PowerShell

What this checks and how to fix it

7.2.11 (L1) Ensure the SharePoint default sharing link permission is set

This setting configures the permission that is selected by default for sharing link from a SharePoint site.

The recommended state is View.

Rationale

Setting the view permission as the default ensures that users must deliberately select the edit permission when sharing a link. This approach reduces the risk of unintentionally granting edit privileges to a resource that only requires read access, supporting the principle of least privilege.

Impact

Not applicable.

Remediation

1. Navigate to SharePoint admin center
2. Click to expand Policies > Sharing.
3. Scroll to File and folder links.
4. Ensure Choose the permission that’s selected by default for sharing links is set to View.

PowerShell

1. Connect to SharePoint Online using Connect-SPOService
2. Run the following command:

Set-SPOTenant -DefaultLinkPermission View

Default Value: DefaultLinkPermission : Edit

Related Links

• Manage sharing settings for SharePoint and OneDrive in Microsoft 365
• CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark v7.0.0 - Page 493

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Mito check, based on CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark. Author: Mynster9361. Open-source licences.