dbcve.org
OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2008-0109

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-02-12
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
Word in Microsoft Office 2000 SP3, XP SP3, Office 2003 SP2, and Office Word Viewer 2003 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted fields within the File Information Block (FIB) of a Word file, which triggers length calculation errors and memory corruption.

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

This is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word where crafted fields within the File Information Block (FIB) of a malformed Word document trigger length calculation errors, leading to arbitrary code execution. The attack exploits how Word parses the FIB structure when opening specially constructed .doc files.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (MS08-009) or later cumulative updates for the affected Office versions. Until patched, exercise extreme caution with Word documents from untrusted sources and disable automatic opening of attachments in email clients.

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
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2000= 2003= xp
WordApplication
Affected:all versions

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. Identify installed Microsoft Word version
    Open Winword.exe, go to Help > About Microsoft Word, or run 'winword.exe /?' from Command Prompt to see version number; alternatively check Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features for Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word entry
    Affected if Version matches Office 2000, Office 2003, Office XP, or any version of Microsoft Word prior to security update MS08-009
  2. Confirm Word component is present
    Verify that winword.exe exists in the typical installation path (commonly C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\)
    Affected if Winword.exe is present and its version falls within the affected range
  3. Check if .doc file association is active
    Right-click any .doc file in Windows Explorer, select Properties, and verify it shows Microsoft Word as the program; or inspect registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc to confirm Word is the default handler
    Affected if Microsoft Word is set as the default handler for .doc files, meaning the vulnerable parsing code can be triggered by opening files
  4. Verify document parsing component is enabled
    In Word, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings and confirm macro or external content settings are not blocking all document processing; the vulnerability triggers during normal document open operations
    Affected if Word can open and parse .doc documents without being restricted by security policies, allowing the FIB parsing to occur

You are affected if Microsoft Word is installed with a version matching Office 2000, 2003, XP, or any pre-MS08-009 version and the application is capable of opening .doc files.

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 (MS08-009) or later cumulative updates for the affected Office versions. Until patched, exercise extreme caution with Word documents from untrusted sources and disable automatic opening of attachments in email clients.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft 365, Office 2019, or Office 2016 (any currently supported Office version)

  1. Identify all systems running Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, or Office Word Viewer 2003
  2. Prioritize these systems for remediation as they are no longer supported by Microsoft
  3. Upgrade to a currently supported Microsoft Office version such as Microsoft 365, Office 2019, or Office 2016
  4. If upgrade is not immediately possible, apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-026 patches if still available through your organization's Microsoft subscription
  5. Implement application whitelisting and disable opening of untrusted Word attachments as a temporary mitigation
  6. Ensure antivirus/anti-malware software is current and configured to scan email attachments
Caveat Legacy Office document features may not function in newer versions; macro compatibility should be tested; file format differences between .doc and .docx may require conversion

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

Fix this in Office Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2008-0109 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