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PublisherApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2007-1754

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-07-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
PUBCONV.DLL in Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 does not properly clear memory when transferring data from disk to memory, which allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a malformed .pub page via a certain negative value, which bypasses a sanitization procedure that initializes critical pointers to NULL, aka the "Publisher Invalid Memory Reference 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 confidence

Memory corruption vulnerability in PUBCONV.DLL within Microsoft Office Publisher 2007. The DLL fails to properly clear/initialize memory when loading .pub files from disk. A malformed .pub file containing a specific negative value bypasses a sanitization routine that initializes critical pointers to NULL, allowing attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (MS07-024 or subsequent relevant bulletins) to patch PUBCONV.DLL in Office Publisher 2007. Until patched, avoid opening .pub files from untrusted 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
PublisherApplication
Affected:= 2007

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Microsoft Publisher 2007 is installed
    Open Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or check C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\ for publisher.exe, or run: reg query 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Publisher\InstallRoot'
    Affected if Publisher 2007 is present on the system
  2. Locate and identify PUBCONV.DLL version
    Find PUBCONV.DLL in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\, right-click > Properties > Details to see file version, or run: dir /a "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\PUBCONV.DLL"
    Affected if PUBCONV.DLL exists and has a version released before the MS07-024 patch (the patched version is 12.0.6015.5000 or later per Microsoft bulletin)
  3. Verify MS07-024 security update is installed
    Run: reg query 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\Office 2007\KB931895' or check Windows Update history for security update KB931895 (MS07-024)
    Affected if The MS07-024 update (KB931895) is NOT installed
  4. Inspect file association handling of .pub files
    Run: assoc .pub and ftype pubfile to see which application handles .pub files; confirm it points to Publisher and uses PUBCONV.DLL
    Affected if System opens .pub files with Publisher 2007 and uses the vulnerable DLL path

A system is affected if Microsoft Publisher 2007 is installed, PUBCONV.DLL lacks the MS07-024 patch, and the system processes .pub files using the vulnerable code path.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates (MS07-024 or subsequent relevant bulletins) to patch PUBCONV.DLL in Office Publisher 2007. Until patched, avoid opening .pub files from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 with MS07-037 applied, or upgrade to a newer supported Microsoft Office version

  1. Check the current Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 version by opening Publisher, clicking Help, and selecting About Microsoft Office Publisher
  2. Verify if the system is running Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 (version 12.0)
  3. If running Publisher 2007, apply the relevant security update. For CVE-2007-1754, Microsoft released security bulletin MS07-037 in July 2007 which addressed this vulnerability
  4. Access Windows Update or Microsoft Update to check for available security updates
  5. Install security update MS07-037 or subsequent cumulative updates that include the fix for this vulnerability
  6. After installation, restart the computer and verify Publisher functions correctly
  7. Alternatively, consider upgrading to a newer version of Microsoft Office (such as Office 2010 or later) which no longer contains this vulnerability
Caveat If upgrading to a newer Office version, verify compatibility with existing .pub files and other dependent systems; Office 2007 extended support ended in 2017, so upgrading to a currently supported version is recommended

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Publisher Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2007-1754 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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