CVE-2004-0573
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 · uneditedBuffer overflow in the converter for Microsoft WordPerfect 5.x on Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, and Works Suites 2001 through 2004 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a malicious document or website.
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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in the Microsoft WordPerfect 5.x document converter allows remote code execution when processing maliciously crafted WordPerfect documents. The converter fails to properly validate input bounds, enabling an attacker to overwrite memory and execute arbitrary code via a crafted document or website.
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= 2003= 2000= 2003= xp= 2000= 2002= 2003= 2000= 2002= 2003= 2001= 2002= 2003= 2004CVSS 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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Identify installed Microsoft productsOpen Add/Remove Programs (or Programs and Features) and look for Microsoft Office, FrontPage, Publisher, Word, or Works installations. Check the version column for the specific version numbers.Affected if Any of the following products are installed: Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, FrontPage 2000/2002/2003, Publisher 2000/2002/2003, Word 2000/2002/2003, Works 2001/2002/2003/2004.
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Confirm product version matches affected rangeRight-click on the installed product in Add/Remove Programs, select Properties, and verify the version matches exactly: Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, FrontPage 2000, FrontPage 2002, FrontPage 2003, Publisher 2000, Publisher 2002, Publisher 2003, Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, Works 2001, Works 2002, Works 2003, or Works 2004.Affected if The installed product version exactly matches one of the versions listed in the affected products.
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Locate the WordPerfect converter componentSearch the Microsoft Office installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\) for the file wpft532.cnv or similar WordPerfect converter files (wpft*.cnv). The converter is typically in the OfficeXX\TextConverters folder.Affected if The WordPerfect converter file (wpft532.cnv or similar) exists on the system.
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Verify the converter is present and enabledOpen Microsoft Word (or any affected Office application), go to File > Open, and look for 'WordPerfect Document (*.wpd)' in the file type dropdown list. If it appears, the converter is registered and functional.Affected if The WordPerfect document type appears in the file open dialog, indicating the converter is registered and available for use.
A user is affected if they have any of the listed Microsoft products installed with the specified versions AND the WordPerfect 5.x converter component is present and functional on the system.
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 Microsoft security patches for this vulnerability (MS04-027). Until patched, users should not open WordPerfect documents from untrusted sources, and organizations may consider disabling or removing the WordPerfect converter if not required.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2004-0573 — 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-2004-0573 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