dbcve.org
PowerpointApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2006-3590

MEDIUM · 5.1 CVSS v2.0 Published 2006-07-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
60/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
mso.dll, as used by Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 through 2003, allows user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a malformed shape container in a PPT file that leads to memory corruption, as exploited by Trojan.PPDropper.B, a different issue than CVE-2006-1540 and CVE-2006-3493.

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

Memory corruption vulnerability in mso.dll (Microsoft Office library) when parsing malformed shape containers in PowerPoint files. Opening a specially crafted PPT file triggers heap/stack corruption that can be leveraged for arbitrary code execution. Affects PowerPoint 2000 through 2003.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for Office 2000-2003, or migrate to supported Office versions. Avoid opening untrusted PowerPoint files 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
PowerpointApplication
Affected:= 2000= 2002= 2003

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
High
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:H/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. Identify installed PowerPoint version
    Open PowerPoint, go to Help > About Microsoft PowerPoint, or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office installations. Look for PowerPoint 2000, 2002 (XP), or 2003.
    Affected if The installed version is PowerPoint 2000, 2002, or 2003.
  2. Locate and verify mso.dll version
    Find mso.dll in the Office installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\ for PowerPoint 2002, or Office11\ for PowerPoint 2003). Right-click the file, select Properties, and check the Version tab.
    Affected if mso.dll version is from Office 2000-2003 and matches the vulnerable versions for those releases.
  3. Check for installed Microsoft security updates
    Open Windows Update history or check Add/Remove Programs for security update KB918073 (the patch for this CVE). On the affected systems, search the update history for patches released after July 2006.
    Affected if No security updates for Office 2000-2003 have been installed, or KB918073 is missing.
  4. Determine if users open PowerPoint attachments
    Review email gateway logs, proxy logs, or endpoint monitoring for PowerPoint file (.ppt, .pot, .pps, .pptx) attachments or downloads from untrusted sources.
    Affected if Users regularly open PowerPoint files from external or untrusted sources without scanning.

A user is affected if PowerPoint 2000, 2002, or 2003 is installed without the relevant security patches and users open PowerPoint files that could contain malformed shape containers.

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 Microsoft security updates for Office 2000-2003, or migrate to supported Office versions. Avoid opening untrusted PowerPoint files from unknown sources.

Fix this in Powerpoint Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-3590 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2006-3590 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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