CVE-2020-16944 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

Status: Modified - Last modified: 31 Dec 2023, 20:15 UTC Published: 16 Oct 2020, 23:15 UTC

CVE-2020-16944
Vulnerability Scoring

8.7
/10

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low Impact
  • Attack Vector: NETWORK
  • Privileges Required: Low Impact
  • Scope: CHANGED
  • User Interaction: REQUIRED

CIA Impact Definition

  • Confidentiality: HIGH IMPACT
  • Integrity: HIGH IMPACT
  • Availability:

CVE-2020-16944 Vulnerability Summary

<p>This vulnerability is caused when SharePoint Server does not properly sanitize a specially crafted request to an affected SharePoint server.</p> <p>An authenticated attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted request to an affected SharePoint server. The attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could then perform cross-site scripting attacks on affected systems and run script in the security context of the current user. These attacks could allow the attacker to read content that the attacker is not authorized to read, use the victim's identity to take actions on the SharePoint site on behalf of the victim, such as change permissions, delete content, steal sensitive information (such as browser cookies) and inject malicious content in the browser of the victim.</p> <p>For this vulnerability to be exploited, a user must click a specially crafted URL that takes the user to a targeted SharePoint Web App site.</p> <p>In an email attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending an email message containing the specially crafted URL to the user of the targeted SharePoint Web App site and convincing the user to click the specially crafted URL.</p> <p>In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker would have to host a website that contains a specially crafted URL to the targeted SharePoint Web App site that is used to attempt to exploit these vulnerabilities. In addition, compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content could contain specially crafted content that could exploit the vulnerability. An attacker would have no way to force users to visit a specially crafted website. Instead, an attacker would have to convince them to visit the website, typically by getting them to click a link in an instant messenger or email message that takes them to the attacker's website, and then convince them to click the specially crafted URL.</p> <p>The security update addresses the vulnerability by helping to ensure that SharePoint Server properly sanitizes user web requests.</p>

Access Complexity Graph

Above is the Access Complexity Graph for CVE-2020-16944. It helps visualize the difficulty level and privilege requirements needed to exploit this vulnerability, providing a quick assessment of its exploitation feasibility.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2020-16944, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2020-16944, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 0.058% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 27.1% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 72.9% of others.

CVE-2020-16944 Detailed Information and External References

References

CWE

CWE-79

CAPEC

  • XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch CAPEC-209 An adversary creates a file with scripting content but where the specified MIME type of the file is such that scripting is not expected. The adversary tricks the victim into accessing a URL that responds with the script file. Some browsers will detect that the specified MIME type of the file does not match the actual type of its content and will automatically switch to using an interpreter for the real content type. If the browser does not invoke script filters before doing this, the adversary's script may run on the target unsanitized, possibly revealing the victim's cookies or executing arbitrary script in their browser.
  • DOM-Based XSS CAPEC-588 This type of attack is a form of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) where a malicious script is inserted into the client-side HTML being parsed by a web browser. Content served by a vulnerable web application includes script code used to manipulate the Document Object Model (DOM). This script code either does not properly validate input, or does not perform proper output encoding, thus creating an opportunity for an adversary to inject a malicious script launch a XSS attack. A key distinction between other XSS attacks and DOM-based attacks is that in other XSS attacks, the malicious script runs when the vulnerable web page is initially loaded, while a DOM-based attack executes sometime after the page loads. Another distinction of DOM-based attacks is that in some cases, the malicious script is never sent to the vulnerable web server at all. An attack like this is guaranteed to bypass any server-side filtering attempts to protect users.
  • Reflected XSS CAPEC-591 This type of attack is a form of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) where a malicious script is "reflected" off a vulnerable web application and then executed by a victim's browser. The process starts with an adversary delivering a malicious script to a victim and convincing the victim to send the script to the vulnerable web application.
  • Stored XSS CAPEC-592 An adversary utilizes a form of Cross-site Scripting (XSS) where a malicious script is persistently "stored" within the data storage of a vulnerable web application as valid input.
  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) CAPEC-63 An adversary embeds malicious scripts in content that will be served to web browsers. The goal of the attack is for the target software, the client-side browser, to execute the script with the users' privilege level. An attack of this type exploits a programs' vulnerabilities that are brought on by allowing remote hosts to execute code and scripts. Web browsers, for example, have some simple security controls in place, but if a remote attacker is allowed to execute scripts (through injecting them in to user-generated content like bulletin boards) then these controls may be bypassed. Further, these attacks are very difficult for an end user to detect.
  • AJAX Footprinting CAPEC-85 This attack utilizes the frequent client-server roundtrips in Ajax conversation to scan a system. While Ajax does not open up new vulnerabilities per se, it does optimize them from an attacker point of view. A common first step for an attacker is to footprint the target environment to understand what attacks will work. Since footprinting relies on enumeration, the conversational pattern of rapid, multiple requests and responses that are typical in Ajax applications enable an attacker to look for many vulnerabilities, well-known ports, network locations and so on. The knowledge gained through Ajax fingerprinting can be used to support other attacks, such as XSS.

Vulnerable Configurations

  • cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sharepoint_enterprise_server:2016:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sharepoint_enterprise_server:2016:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sharepoint_foundation:2013:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sharepoint_foundation:2013:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sharepoint_server:2019:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sharepoint_server:2019:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS3 Source

secure@microsoft.com

CVSS3 Type

Primary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

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