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Additional information about the Self-Service Site Creation feature in Office SharePoint Server 2010

Article ID: 978933

Applies to: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010

INTRODUCTION

The Self-Service Site Creation feature in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 uses a shared host name or a combination of a shared host name and a managed path at the root of the URL for all sites. Users can create the URL automatically by using this feature.

For environments that require the highest security-level of "Content and Site" isolation, it may be helpful to consider an Office SharePoint Server 2010 site-structure that reduces the risks that are associated with using contiguous URL namespaces.

Office SharePoint Server 2010 sites are security boundaries for access to content. However, Web browsers only treat host names as security boundaries. They do not treat sites as security boundaries. Therefore, content that contains scripts that reside on one Office SharePoint Server 2010 site can be run on other sites that are under the same host name.

Consider the following scenario. Both user A and user B have their own Office SharePoint Server 2010 site collections. For example, "http://my/sites/UserA" and "http://my/sites/UserB." User A has Site owner or Designer permissions on user A's site. However, user A has no permissions on user B’s site. When user A browses to user B’s site, user A receives an "Access Denied" error. However, user A can upload a script-containing document to user A's site and then give user B read-access to it. If user B views the document that user A created, the script could run without warning by using user B’s credentials. In the context of many available Web browsers, the script does not cross a security boundary. Additionally, the running of the script is not considered as a cross-domain event.

This issue occurs because user B’s Office SharePoint Server 2010 site and user A’s Office SharePoint Server 2010 site are under the same host name. In this site structure, user B and user A must be able to trust one another not to try to perform a scripting attack. If groups of site owners cannot trust one another, their sites should be partitioned across separate host names.

Office SharePoint Server 2010 uses improved client-options such as the options in Windows Internet Explorer 8 to create a more robust boundary for contributor content. These options force a download of script-containing content to a separate security-zone. This behavior helps reduce subsite scripting possibilities. This can help limit risk from contributor created content such as Wiki entries or as documents that are uploaded to shared-folders. However, users who have Site-Designer permissions or higher can combine script directly in ways that bypass these options.

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MORE INFORMATION

Office SharePoint Server 2010 deployments can be designed. For example, you can use host-named site collections or managed paths to minimize any concerns that you may have.

For more information about how to plan host-named site collections, visit the following Web site:

Plan for host-named site collections (Office SharePoint Server)

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc424952.aspx)

For more information about how to define managed paths, visit the following Web site:

Define managed paths

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261845.aspx)

For more information about how to design information architecture, visit the following Web site:

Determine the information architecture of your site

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262873.aspx)

For more information about how to design Office SharePoint Server 2010 site collections, sites, and subsites, visit the following Web site:

Determine sites and subsites

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262410.aspx)

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