CVE-2006-1309
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 Excel 2000 through 2004 allows user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary code via a .xls file with a crafted LABEL record that triggers memory corruption.
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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Excel 2000-2004 where a specially crafted .xls file containing a malformed LABEL record triggers heap corruption, potentially allowing remote code execution when the file is opened by a victim.
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= 2004= x= 2003CVSS 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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:M/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Microsoft Excel versionOpen Excel and navigate to Help > About Microsoft Excel to view the version number, or right-click the Excel.exe file and select Properties > Details to see the File VersionAffected if The displayed version is 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2004
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Check Microsoft Excel Viewer versionOpen Windows Add or Remove Programs, locate Microsoft Excel Viewer, and note the version, or check the file properties of the Excel Viewer executable in the installation directoryAffected if Excel Viewer version 2003 is installed
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Identify default .xls file handlerRight-click any .xls file in Windows Explorer, select Properties, and review the 'Opens with' field to see which program handles Excel files by defaultAffected if The default handler is a vulnerable version of Excel (2000-2004) or Excel Viewer 2003
A user is affected if Microsoft Excel version 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2004, or Microsoft Excel Viewer 2003 is installed and configured as the handler for .xls files 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.
dbcve · scopedAvoid opening .xls files from untrusted sources; upgrade to a supported version of Microsoft Office; enable Excel's macro security settings to maximum.
Microsoft Excel Microsoft 365 (current) or Excel 2016/2019 with latest security patches
- Identify all systems with Microsoft Excel 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, or Excel Viewer 2003 installed
- Download and install a supported version of Microsoft Excel (Microsoft 365, or Excel 2016/2019 with active security updates)
- Ensure Windows security updates are also current to receive the latest patches
- Verify the upgrade was successful by opening Excel and confirming the version number
- Test critical .xls workflows to ensure functionality in the new version
- Remove old, unsupported Excel installations from all affected machines
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-1309 — 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-2006-1309 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