CVE-2002-0021
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 · uneditedNetwork Product Identification (PID) Checker in Microsoft Office v. X for Mac allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a malformed product announcement.
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 · low confidenceThe Network Product Identification (PID) Checker in Microsoft Office v. X for Mac contains a vulnerability that allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service by sending a malformed product announcement, which triggers a crash of the affected component.
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= v.xCVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate Microsoft Office v. X for Mac installationCheck the /Applications folder for 'Microsoft Office v. X' or 'Microsoft Office 10' folder/application bundles. On Mac, inspect /Library/Application Support/Microsoft or ~/Applications/Microsoft Office v. XAffected if The Microsoft Office v. X for Mac application folder or bundle exists on the system
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Identify the PID Checker componentLook for the PID Checker executable or service within the Microsoft Office v. X installation directory. Check for files named 'PID Checker', 'PIDChecker', or network service components related to product identificationAffected if The PID Checker binary or service file is present within the Office v. X installation
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Determine if the PID Checker network service is activeReview running processes or launched services for the PID Checker component. On Mac, use Activity Monitor or check for listening network ports associated with product identification servicesAffected if The PID Checker service is currently running or bound to a network port
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Examine system crash logsSearch Mac system logs (Console app) or crash dump directories for incidents involving PID Checker, PIDChecker, or Office v. X components crashing when receiving network announcementsAffected if Crash logs show PID Checker or related Office v. X components terminating unexpectedly, especially in response to network requests
A system is affected if Microsoft Office v. X for Mac with the PID Checker component is installed and the service is accessible or has been observed crashing from malformed network announcements.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataSince Microsoft Office v. X for Mac is an obsolete product (circa 2001) long past end-of-support, the primary remediation is to identify and remove any remaining instances of this legacy software from the environment. If legacy systems must retain it, network-level filtering can be applied to block external access to the PID Checker service.
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- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-0021 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2002-0021 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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