Sametime Chat And MeetingsApplication · Hcltech

CVE-2023-45698

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Sametime is impacted by lack of clickjacking protection in Outlook add-in. The application is not implementing appropriate protections in order to protect users from clickjacking attacks.

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 · moderate confidence

The Sametime Outlook add-in lacks clickjacking protection, allowing malicious actors to embed the application in an invisible iframe and trick users into performing unintended actions such as sending messages or modifying settings without their knowledge.

MitigationImplement X-Frame-Options (DENY or SAMEORIGIN) header or Content-Security-Policy with frame-ancestors directive on the server serving the Outlook add-in to prevent it from being embedded in iframes.

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
Sametime Chat And MeetingsApplication
Affected:= 11.5= 11.6= 12.0= 12.0.1

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

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. Identify installed Sametime Chat And Meetings version
    Check the installed version of Hcltech Sametime Chat And Meetings through the Windows Programs and Features panel, or run 'Get-ItemProperty' in PowerShell on the installation directory typically found at C:\Program Files\HCL\Sametime\Chat And Meetings
    Affected if The installed version matches 11.5, 11.6, 12.0, or 12.0.1 and the Outlook add-in component is present
  2. Verify Sametime Outlook add-in is installed
    Open Outlook, go to File > Options > Add-ins, and confirm the HCL Sametime add-in appears in the list of active COM add-ins
    Affected if The Sametime Outlook add-in is listed as active and the server serving the add-in lacks clickjacking protections
  3. Check for X-Frame-Options header on the Sametime server
    Use a browser developer tool or command-line tool like curl to make a request to the Sametime server URL (e.g., curl -I https://your-sametime-server) and inspect the response headers for X-Frame-Options
    Affected if The X-Frame-Options header is missing or set to a permissive value such as ALLOW-FROM uri (not DENY or SAMEORIGIN)
  4. Check for Content-Security-Policy frame-ancestors directive
    Inspect the HTTP response headers from the Sametime server for a Content-Security-Policy header that includes frame-ancestors or frame-src directives
    Affected if The CSP header is missing or does not include restrictive frame-ancestors directives to prevent iframe embedding

You are affected if you have Sametime Chat And Meetings version 11.5, 11.6, 12.0, or 12.0.1 with the Outlook add-in enabled AND the Sametime server does not send X-Frame-Options or CSP frame-ancestors headers.

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

Implement X-Frame-Options (DENY or SAMEORIGIN) header or Content-Security-Policy with frame-ancestors directive on the server serving the Outlook add-in to prevent it from being embedded in iframes.

Fix this in Sametime Chat And Meetings Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2023-45698 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