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Office Web AppsApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2012-1860

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-07-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
61/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP2 and SP3, SharePoint Server 2010 Gold and SP1, and Office Web Apps 2010 Gold and SP1 do not properly check permissions for search scopes, which allows remote authenticated users to obtain sensitive information or cause a denial of service (data modification) by changing a parameter in a search-scope URL, aka "SharePoint Search Scope Vulnerability."

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Microsoft SharePoint Server fails to properly validate permissions on search scope URLs, allowing any authenticated user to access or modify search scope configurations by manipulating URL parameters. This authorization bypass enables information disclosure (viewing restricted search scopes) and denial of service through data modification (altering search scope settings).

MitigationApply Microsoft security update MS12-050 (or subsequent patches for this CVE) to all affected SharePoint Server and Office Web Apps installations. Verify that search scope permissions are correctly enforced after patching.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Office Web AppsApplication
Affected:= 2010
Sharepoint ServerApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
Single
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check SharePoint Server version
    Open SharePoint Central Administration > System Settings > Manage farm features, or run: Get-SPFarm | Select-Object BuildVersion. Alternatively, check Programs and Features in Control Panel for Microsoft SharePoint Server version.
    Affected if The installed version is SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010 (any build within these versions).
  2. Check Office Web Apps version
    On the server running Office Web Apps, check Programs and Features for Microsoft Office Web Apps version, or run: Get-OfficeWebAppsFarm in PowerShell if available.
    Affected if The installed version is Office Web Apps 2010.
  3. Verify search scope configuration is accessible
    Navigate to SharePoint Central Administration > Application Management > Manage service applications > Search Service Application > Search Scopes. Confirm the Search Scopes page loads.
    Affected if Search scopes are configured and accessible to at least some users in the environment.
  4. Test search scope URL permission boundary
    As a low-privilege or non-administrator authenticated user, attempt to access a search scope URL by manipulating parameters, such as adding or modifying scope parameters in the search center URL. Observe whether restricted scopes become visible or modifiable without proper permissions.
    Affected if A non-administrator authenticated user can view or modify search scope configurations they should not have access to.

You are affected if you are running SharePoint Server 2007, SharePoint Server 2010, or Office Web Apps 2010 AND search scopes are configured, with the vulnerability present allowing unauthorized access to scope settings.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security update MS12-050 (or subsequent patches for this CVE) to all affected SharePoint Server and Office Web Apps installations. Verify that search scope permissions are correctly enforced after patching.

Fix this in Office Web Apps Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,980
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-1860 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data