OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2000-0088

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2000-01-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

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
Buffer overflow in the conversion utilities for Japanese, Korean and Chinese Word 5 documents allows an attacker to execute commands, aka the "Malformed Conversion Data" vulnerability.

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

Buffer overflow vulnerability in Microsoft Word's conversion utilities for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Word 5 documents allows execution of arbitrary commands via malformed conversion data.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patch MS00-001 or upgrade to a non-vulnerable version of Microsoft Word; ensure updated antivirus protections are in place for defense-in-depth.

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
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 97= 2000
Office Converter PackApplication
Affected:= 2000.0
PowerpointApplication
Affected:= 97= 2000
WordApplication
Affected:= 97= 98= 2000

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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 Microsoft Word version
    Open Word, go to Help > About Microsoft Word, or run 'winword.exe /?' to view version information. Alternatively, check Add/Remove Programs or the program file properties for version details.
    Affected if Version is 97, 98, or 2000 (the affected versions)
  2. Identify installed Microsoft Office version
    Open any Office application, go to Help > About, or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office entries. Version information may also appear in the program files directory.
    Affected if Office version is 97 or 2000 (the affected versions)
  3. Identify installed Microsoft PowerPoint version
    Open PowerPoint, go to Help > About Microsoft PowerPoint, or check Add/Remove Programs for PowerPoint version.
    Affected if PowerPoint version is 97 or 2000 (the affected versions)
  4. Check for Microsoft Office Converter Pack installation
    Check Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Office Converter Pack' or search for conversion-related files in the Office installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office or Converter).
    Affected if Converter Pack version 2000.0 is installed
  5. Confirm presence of East Asian Word 5 conversion utilities
    Look for conversion filters or converters in the Office installation path, particularly those handling Japanese, Korean, or Chinese document formats. Check program directories for files related to 'Wrd6cnv.exe' or East Asian text converters.
    Affected if The East Asian document conversion utilities for Word 5 are present and the affected product versions above are detected

A user is affected if they have Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Office version 97, 98, or 2000 (or Converter Pack 2000.0) installed AND the East Asian Word 5 conversion utilities are present on the system.

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

Apply Microsoft security patch MS00-001 or upgrade to a non-vulnerable version of Microsoft Word; ensure updated antivirus protections are in place for defense-in-depth.

Fix this in Office Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2000-0088 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2000-0088 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