CVE-2011-1264 in Windows
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Active Directory Certificate Services Web Enrollment in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Server 2008 Gold, SP2, R2, and R2 SP1 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via an unspecified parameter, aka "Active Directory Certificate Services Vulnerability."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/15/2025
The CVE-2011-1264 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services Web Enrollment component, specifically affecting Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Server 2008 across multiple service pack versions. This vulnerability resides in the web-based certificate enrollment interface that administrators and users employ to request and manage digital certificates within Active Directory environments. The flaw stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the web application layer that processes certificate enrollment requests. Attackers can exploit this weakness by submitting malicious script code through unspecified parameters within the enrollment web forms, potentially compromising the security of the entire certificate infrastructure.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when the web enrollment service fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input before incorporating it into dynamically generated web pages. This allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript or HTML code that executes within the context of other users' browsers who access the compromised enrollment interface. The vulnerability manifests as a classic XSS attack vector where the malicious payload is stored or reflected in the web application's response, subsequently executed in the victim's browser. According to CWE classification, this represents a CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, which specifically addresses the failure to properly encode or escape user-controllable data in web applications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, potentially enabling attackers to escalate privileges within the certificate services environment, steal session cookies, perform unauthorized certificate requests, or redirect users to malicious sites. Since Active Directory Certificate Services forms the backbone of PKI infrastructure in many enterprise environments, successful exploitation could compromise the integrity of the entire certificate trust model. The vulnerability affects not only individual users but also the broader organizational security posture, as compromised certificate enrollment interfaces could allow attackers to obtain valid certificates for malicious purposes. This aligns with ATT&CK technique T1556.002 for credential access through web application attacks, potentially enabling further lateral movement within the network.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including deploying the relevant Microsoft security patches, configuring proper input validation at the web application level, and implementing content security policies to prevent script execution. Network segmentation and monitoring of certificate enrollment traffic can help detect exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches for critical infrastructure components and demonstrates how seemingly isolated web application flaws can have cascading effects on enterprise security infrastructure. Regular security assessments of certificate services and web applications should be conducted to identify similar input validation weaknesses that could be exploited in similar scenarios.