CVE-2006-6456
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 2000, 2002, and 2003 and Word Viewer 2003 allows remote attackers to execute code via unspecified vectors related to malformed data structures that trigger memory corruption, a different vulnerability than CVE-2006-5994.
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 Word 2000-2003 and Word Viewer 2003 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via malformed data structures in specially crafted Word documents.
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= 2003= 2004= xp= 2000= 2002= 2003= 2003= 2004= 2005= 2006CVSS 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.
-
Identify installed Microsoft Office or Word versionOpen Word, go to Help > About Microsoft Office Word, or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office installation. Note the exact version number (2000, XP/2002, 2003, 2004).Affected if Version is 2000, XP/2002, 2003, or 2004
-
Check for Microsoft Word Viewer installationCheck Add/Remove Programs or search for 'Wordview.exe' on the system to determine if Word Viewer 2003 is installed.Affected if Microsoft Word Viewer 2003 is installed
-
Check for Microsoft Works installationCheck Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Works Suite versions 2004, 2005, or 2006.Affected if Microsoft Works 2004, 2005, or 2006 is installed
-
Confirm vulnerability trigger conditionThis vulnerability is exploited when a user opens a specially crafted malformed Word document. Check if your organization processes Word documents from untrusted or external sources.Affected if Users open Word documents from untrusted or external sources without prior security scanning
You are affected if you have Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, or 2003, Word Viewer 2003, Microsoft Works 2004-2006, or Office versions 2000-2004/XP installed, and users open Word documents from untrusted sources.
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 updates (MS07-014 or subsequent patches) to affected Office installations, or upgrade to newer Office versions no longer affected by this vulnerability.
- 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-2006-6456 — 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 sources- blogs.technet.com
- isc.sans.org
- secunia.com
- vil.mcafeesecurity.com
- vil.mcafeesecurity.com
- www.kb.cert.org
- archives.neohapsis.com
- archives.neohapsis.com
- securitytracker.com
- securitytracker.com
- www.osvdb.org
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.us-cert.gov
- www.vupen.com
- www.vupen.com
- docs.microsoft.com
- exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com
- oval.cisecurity.org
- nvd.nist.gov
Practitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2006-6456 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
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.
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