CVE-2002-1056
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 · uneditedMicrosoft Outlook 2000 and 2002, when configured to use Microsoft Word as the email editor, does not block scripts that are used while editing email messages in HTML or Rich Text Format (RTF), which could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary scripts via an email that the user forwards or replies to.
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 confidenceMicrosoft Outlook 2000 and 2002 when configured to use Microsoft Word as the email editor fails to block scripts embedded in HTML or Rich Text Format (RTF) email messages. When a user forwards or replies to such a malicious email, the embedded arbitrary script executes in the security context of the user's email client.
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= 2000= 2002= 2000= 2002CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Outlook versionOpen Outlook, click Help menu, select About Microsoft Outlook. Verify the version is 2000 (version 9.0) or 2002 (version 10.0).Affected if Version is 2000 or 2002
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Verify Word is configured as email editorIn Outlook, go to Tools > Options > Mail Format tab. Under 'Compose in this message format' or 'Message format', check if 'Microsoft Word' is selected as the editor.Affected if Microsoft Word is selected as the email editor
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Check Office script execution settingsIn Windows Registry, check HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Word\Security for 'AutomationSecurity' value, or in Word go to Tools > Macro > Security to see if macros/scripts are allowed to run.Affected if Script or macro execution is not set to High/Disabled for the Outlook/Word version
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Confirm email format handlingIn Outlook, go to Tools > Options > Mail Format tab. Check if HTML or Rich Text Format (RTF) is enabled as a message format.Affected if HTML or RTF message format is enabled and used as default
User is affected if running Outlook 2000 or 2002 with Microsoft Word configured as the email editor, and HTML/RTF emails with embedded scripts can be processed.
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 dataApply the relevant Microsoft security patch for this vulnerability, or disable the use of Microsoft Word as the email editor in Outlook, or disable script execution in Office applications.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-1056 — 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-2002-1056 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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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.
- 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