CVE-2006-4693
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 · uneditedUnspecified vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac and v.X for Mac allows remote user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted string in a Word file, a different issue than CVE-2006-3647 and CVE-2006-3651.
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 memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac and v.X for Mac where a specially crafted string embedded in a malicious Word file triggers arbitrary code execution when the victim opens the file. The vulnerability is user-assisted, requiring the target to open a malicious document, and has a CVSS score of 9.3 indicating critical severity.
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= v.x= 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
- 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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Locate Microsoft Word installation on the MacOpen Finder, navigate to /Applications folder, or use terminal command: ls /Applications | grep -i wordAffected if Microsoft Word application exists on the system
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Identify installed Word versionRight-click on Word app > Get Info, or use terminal: defaults read /Applications/Microsoft\ Word.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionString (adjust path if needed)Affected if Version reported is either 'v.x' or '2004' (exact match to affected versions)
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Verify Office suite version if Word standalone unavailableCheck /Applications/Microsoft Office folder or use: ls /Applications/Microsoft\ Office* for Office suite installation, then check version via app infoAffected if Office suite version matches v.x or 2004
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Confirm vulnerability applicabilityThis flaw requires user to open a maliciously crafted Word document - check if users handle documents from untrusted sourcesAffected if Affected Word version (v.x or 2004) is installed AND users open Word documents
User is affected if Microsoft Word 2004 or Office v.x for Mac is installed and users open Word documents, as exploitation requires opening a malicious file with the vulnerable application.
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 dataAvoid opening Word documents from untrusted sources, and migrate from these end-of-life Mac Office versions to supported Microsoft 365 or Office 2021 for Mac installations.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-4693 — 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-2006-4693 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