CVE-2011-0653 in SharePoint
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 Gold and SP1, and SharePoint Foundation 2010, allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the URI, aka "XSS in SharePoint Calendar Vulnerability."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/19/2021
The CVE-2011-0653 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw affecting Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 and SharePoint Foundation 2010 implementations. This vulnerability specifically targets the calendar functionality within SharePoint environments, creating a pathway for remote attackers to execute malicious web scripts or HTML code through manipulated URI parameters. The flaw exists in both the Gold and SP1 versions of SharePoint Server 2010, as well as the foundational SharePoint Foundation 2010 platform, indicating a widespread impact across Microsoft's SharePoint ecosystem during that era.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when SharePoint Server fails to properly validate or sanitize user input within URI parameters that are subsequently rendered in calendar views. Attackers can craft malicious URLs containing script payloads that, when accessed by authenticated or unauthenticated users, execute within the context of the victim's browser session. This particular weakness falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, specifically manifesting as a stored XSS vulnerability where malicious content can persist and affect multiple users who access the vulnerable calendar entries. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by SharePoint's widespread adoption in enterprise environments where calendar functionality is heavily utilized for scheduling and collaboration purposes.
The operational implications of CVE-2011-0653 are substantial, as it enables attackers to perform various malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, and data exfiltration. An attacker could inject malicious scripts that redirect users to phishing sites, steal session cookies, or even modify calendar entries to propagate further attacks. The vulnerability particularly affects organizations relying on SharePoint for business-critical calendar functions, potentially compromising sensitive scheduling information and user credentials. This flaw aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531 for "Account Access Removal" and T1059.007 for "Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript" when considering the execution vectors available through this XSS vulnerability.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant Microsoft security patches, implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms, and configuring web application firewalls to detect and block malicious URI patterns. The remediation process should involve comprehensive testing of calendar functionality and user input handling to ensure that all URI parameters are properly sanitized before being rendered in web interfaces. Additionally, administrators should consider implementing Content Security Policy headers and regular security assessments of SharePoint environments to identify similar vulnerabilities that may exist in other components of the platform. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of input validation in web applications and the potential for seemingly benign features like calendar functionality to become attack vectors in enterprise collaboration platforms.