CVE-2024-49068: SharePoint Server Privilege Escalation

CVE-2024-49068 Overview

CVE-2024-49068 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability affecting Microsoft SharePoint Server. The flaw is categorized under [CWE-284] Improper Access Control and allows a network-based attacker to elevate privileges without authentication or user interaction. Microsoft published the advisory as part of its December 2024 security update cycle. The vulnerability affects SharePoint Server Subscription Edition, SharePoint Server 2019, and SharePoint Server 2016 in enterprise deployments.

Critical Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit improper access control in Microsoft SharePoint Server to elevate privileges, gaining the ability to read sensitive data and modify limited resources on the affected server.

Affected Products

• Microsoft SharePoint Server Subscription Edition
• Microsoft SharePoint Server 2019
• Microsoft SharePoint Server 2016 (Enterprise)

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-12-12 - CVE-2024-49068 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
• 2025-01-08 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-49068

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in Microsoft SharePoint Server and is classified as an elevation of privilege issue. The underlying weakness, [CWE-284] Improper Access Control, indicates that SharePoint fails to enforce expected authorization checks on specific server-side functionality. An attacker reaching the SharePoint service over the network can leverage this gap to perform actions that should require elevated privileges.

The vulnerability is exploitable without authentication and without user interaction, which expands the population of potential attackers to anyone with network access to a vulnerable SharePoint server. Successful exploitation results in high confidentiality impact and low integrity impact, with no direct impact to availability. Internet-exposed SharePoint deployments face the greatest exposure because the attack vector is purely network-based.

The EPSS model assigns this CVE a probability of approximately 1.84%, placing it in the 83rd percentile of CVEs by likelihood of exploitation activity. While no public proof-of-concept or in-the-wild exploitation has been confirmed at publication time, SharePoint has historically been a high-value target for adversaries pursuing data theft and lateral movement.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper access control within SharePoint Server components. Microsoft has not published low-level technical details, and NVD provides no further sub-classification (NVD-CWE-noinfo). Based on the CWE-284 mapping, the affected code paths do not correctly restrict the operations that an unauthenticated requester may invoke.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based with low attack complexity. No credentials are required, and the victim does not need to perform any action. An attacker sends crafted requests to an exposed SharePoint endpoint to invoke functionality that should be gated by privilege checks. Because the vulnerability scope is unchanged, post-exploitation activity remains within the SharePoint security context, though disclosed information can support follow-on attacks.

No verified public exploit code is available. Refer to the Microsoft Security Update Guide for CVE-2024-49068 for vendor-provided technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-49068

Indicators of Compromise

• Unauthenticated HTTP/HTTPS requests to SharePoint endpoints from external or unexpected internal sources, followed by responses returning privileged or restricted content.
• Anomalous SharePoint application pool (w3wp.exe) activity, including unusual child processes or unexpected file reads under the SharePoint hive.
• Access log entries showing successful operations against administrative or API endpoints without an associated authenticated session.

Detection Strategies

• Review IIS and SharePoint Unified Logging Service (ULS) logs for unauthenticated requests that return HTTP 200 responses against sensitive endpoints.
• Hunt for repeated requests targeting SharePoint web services and REST APIs from a single source within short time windows.
• Correlate SharePoint audit events with network telemetry to identify privilege-bearing actions that lack a preceding authentication event.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose ULS logging on SharePoint front-end servers and forward logs to a centralized SIEM for retention and correlation.
• Monitor outbound connections from SharePoint servers to detect data staging or exfiltration following suspected exploitation.
• Track changes to SharePoint permission objects, site collections, and farm-level configurations for unauthorized modifications.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-49068

Immediate Actions Required

• Apply the December 2024 Microsoft security updates for SharePoint Server Subscription Edition, 2019, and 2016 as listed in the Microsoft Security Update Guide.
• Inventory all SharePoint Server instances, including non-production farms, and confirm patch status across each server in the farm.
• Restrict network exposure of SharePoint servers, removing direct internet access where it is not strictly required.

Patch Information

Microsoft has released security updates addressing CVE-2024-49068. Patch availability and KB article identifiers per SharePoint version are published in the Microsoft Security Update Guide for CVE-2024-49068. Apply the cumulative update that corresponds to your SharePoint Server edition and confirm post-installation health using the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.

Workarounds

• Place SharePoint Server behind an authenticating reverse proxy or web application firewall that blocks unauthenticated requests to sensitive endpoints.
• Enforce network segmentation so that only required clients and services can reach SharePoint over HTTP/HTTPS.
• Disable or restrict access to SharePoint features and web services that are not required for business operations until patches are applied.

# Verify installed SharePoint patches via PowerShell on the SharePoint server
Get-SPProduct -Local | Select-Object ProductName, PatchableUnitDisplayName, Patches