OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2002-0619

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-08-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
The Mail Merge Tool in Microsoft Word 2002 for Windows, when Microsoft Access is present on a system, allows remote attackers to execute Visual Basic (VBA) scripts within a mail merge document that is saved in HTML format, aka a "Variant of MS00-071, Word Mail Merge Vulnerability" (CVE-2000-0788).

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 · high confidence

Microsoft Word 2002's Mail Merge Tool, when Microsoft Access is installed on the system, allows execution of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripts embedded within mail merge documents saved in HTML format. This enables remote attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution by tricking users into opening maliciously crafted Word documents.

MitigationApply the relevant Microsoft security update for Office XP, or disable VBA macros in Office applications, or remove Microsoft Access if unused. Users should not open untrusted Word documents from unknown sources.

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:= 2000= xp

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Microsoft Office version
    Open Word, go to Help > About Microsoft Word. Alternatively, check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office installation.
    Affected if Office version is 2000 or XP (Office xp)
  2. Confirm Microsoft Access is installed
    Check if Microsoft Access is present on the system by looking in the Office program group, checking Add/Remove Programs, or attempting to launch access.exe from the Office installation directory.
    Affected if Microsoft Access is installed on the same system as Word
  3. Check for recent mail merge documents in HTML format
    Search the filesystem for .html or .htm files created from Word mail merge operations. Look in common document locations or check recent documents.
    Affected if User has opened or created mail merge documents saved in HTML format from untrusted sources
  4. Verify VBA macro execution setting
    In Word, go to Tools > Macro > Security to check the macro security level. Also check if macros from untrusted sources could execute.
    Affected if Macro security is set to Low or Medium, allowing VBA scripts to run automatically

User is affected if running Microsoft Office 2000 or XP with Microsoft Access installed, and they open maliciously crafted Word mail merge documents saved in HTML format from untrusted sources.

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 the relevant Microsoft security update for Office XP, or disable VBA macros in Office applications, or remove Microsoft Access if unused. Users should not open untrusted Word documents from unknown sources.

Fix this in Office Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,640
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-0619 — 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-2002-0619 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