CVE-2006-1318
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 Office 2003 SP1 and SP2, Office XP SP3, Office 2000 SP3, Office 2004 for Mac, and Office X for Mac do not properly parse record lengths, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a malformed control in an Office document, aka "Microsoft Office Control Vulnerability."
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 confidenceThis is a parsing vulnerability in Microsoft Office where the software fails to properly validate record lengths when processing Office documents containing malformed controls. An attacker can exploit this by crafting a malicious Office document that triggers a buffer overflow, allowing arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the opened document.
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= 2004= x= xpCVSS 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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Identify installed Microsoft Office versionOpen Word/Excel/PowerPoint, click Help menu, select About Microsoft Office [application name]. Alternatively, open Control Panel > Programs and Features, locate Microsoft Office and note the version.Affected if The installed version is Microsoft Office 2000, 2004, or XP (Office 10 or Office 2002).
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Check Office application build numberIn the About dialog for each Office application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), note the full build number displayed (e.g., 9.0.xxxx for Office 2000, 10.xxxx for Office XP).Affected if The build number corresponds to an unpatched release of the affected versions.
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Determine if Office file parsing is activeCheck if users regularly open Office documents (.doc, .xls, .ppt) from external sources. Review email gateway logs or endpoint protection logs for recent Office document attachments.Affected if Users routinely open Office documents from external or untrusted sources, enabling the attack vector.
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Inspect for known malformed document patternsUse hex editor or document analysis tool to examine the header of suspicious Office files, looking for control record structures with invalid length fields or truncated headers.Affected if Office documents contain malformed control records with length values exceeding actual record size.
Your environment is affected if you run an unpatched version of Microsoft Office 2000, 2004, or XP and users open Office documents that could contain malformed control records.
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 · scopedApply the relevant Microsoft security updates (MS06-038) to affected Office installations. Additionally, implement user awareness training to avoid opening Office documents from untrusted sources, and consider deploying email/endpoint filtering to block malicious attachments.
Microsoft 365, Office 2021, or Office 2019 (latest supported perpetual version)
- Upgrade to a supported Microsoft Office version such as Microsoft 365, Office 2021, or Office 2019 to obtain current security updates
- Ensure all Office installations are updated to the latest supported service pack and security patches
- If upgrading is not immediately possible, implement defensive measures such as blocking opening of untrusted or unexpected Office documents
- Enable Protected View in Microsoft Office to open potentially malicious documents in a sandboxed environment
- Deploy up-to-date antivirus/anti-malware solutions on systems that must continue using older Office versions
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-1318 — 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-2006-1318 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