CVE-2007-3899
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 SP3, Word 2002 SP3, and Office 2004 for Mac allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a malformed string in a Word file, aka "Word Memory Corruption 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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word parsing a malformed string within a crafted Word file. The vulnerability allows arbitrary code execution when a user opens a specially crafted Word document containing the malformed string, triggering heap corruption that can be leveraged for remote code execution.
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= xp= 2000= 2002CVSS 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 Word versionOpen Word, go to Help > About Microsoft Word, or check the version in the application's properties. Alternatively, check the executable file version at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\WINWORD.EXE (path varies by version)Affected if The version is Microsoft Word 2000 (version 9.0) or Word 2002 (version 10.0)
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Identify installed Microsoft Office versionCheck the installed Office version via Control Panel > Programs and Features > Microsoft Office, or check the Office setup version in the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\{version}\Common\InstallRootAffected if The installed Office version is 2000, 2004 for Mac, or Office XP (2002)
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Verify the Word parsing component existsConfirm WINWORD.EXE exists in the Office installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\ for Office XP, or Office9 for Office 2000)Affected if The vulnerable Word executable is present and matches versions 9.0 (2000) or 10.0 (2002)
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Check for installed security updatesView installed updates in Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, or run: powershell Get-HotFix -Description 'Security Update' | Select-Object HotFixID,InstalledOn. Look for MS07-060Affected if MS07-060 security update is NOT installed and the Word/Office version matches 2000, 2004, XP, or Word 2000/2002
You are affected if Microsoft Word 2000 or Word 2002, or Microsoft Office 2000, 2004, or XP is installed AND MS07-060 is not applied.
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 Microsoft security patches for this vulnerability (MS07-060). If patches are unavailable for legacy systems, restrict Word file execution from untrusted sources, deploy antivirus with document scanning, or migrate to patched Office versions.
Upgrade to a currently supported Microsoft Office version (such as Microsoft 365, Office 2021, or a supported version of Office 2016/2019) which includes security updates for this and other vulnerabilities.
- 1. Identify all systems running the affected Microsoft Office versions (Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2004 for Mac, Word 2000, Word 2002).
- 2. For Windows systems, check if Microsoft security update MS07-014 (released February 2007) was applied. This patch addresses the memory corruption vulnerability in Word.
- 3. If systems are not patched, apply Microsoft security update MS07-014 from Microsoft Update or the Microsoft Download Center.
- 4. For Office 2004 for Mac, apply the corresponding security update from Microsoft for Mac.
- 5. After patching, verify the update was successfully installed by checking the installed updates.
- 6. As an alternative or additional measure, configure Microsoft Office to open files in Protected View (available in newer versions) or use the Microsoft Office File Block policy to prevent opening untrusted Word documents from the internet.
- 7. Educate users about not opening untrusted Word attachments or downloading Word documents from unknown sources.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2007-3899 — 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-2007-3899 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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- 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