CVE-2008-0113
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 Office Excel Viewer 2003 up to SP3 allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via an Excel document with malformed cell comments that trigger memory corruption from an "allocation error," aka "Microsoft Office Cell Parsing 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 confidenceThis is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office Excel Viewer 2003 where malformed cell comments in specially crafted Excel files trigger an allocation error, leading to arbitrary code execution. It is a user-assisted remote attack requiring the victim to open a malicious document.
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= 2003CVSS 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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Confirm Excel Viewer 2003 is installedCheck the Windows registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Viewer or inspect Program Files for Microsoft Office Excel Viewer folder, or run 'excelv.exe /?' to get version infoAffected if Excel Viewer 2003 is present on the system
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Verify exact version numberRun excelv.exe /? or right-click excelv.exe in Windows Explorer, select Properties, and check the File Version under the Details tabAffected if Version is 2003 (build number 11.0.xxxx)
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Inspect recently opened Excel filesCheck Windows Temporary folder or user's recent documents for any untrusted or suspicious .xls files opened around the time of suspected compromise, or review Outlook email attachments for received Excel filesAffected if User has opened a malformed Excel file from an untrusted source
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Check Excel Viewer process memoryIf Excel Viewer is running, use Process Explorer or Task Manager to inspect the excelv.exe process for unexpected DLL injection or memory anomaliesAffected if Excel Viewer process exhibits unusual memory behavior or loads unexpected DLLs
A system is affected if Excel Viewer 2003 is installed and a user has opened or may open untrusted Excel documents with malformed cell comments.
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 the Microsoft security update (MS08-014) to all systems running Excel Viewer 2003, or upgrade to a supported version of Office. Users should avoid opening untrusted Excel documents from unknown sources.
Microsoft Security Update MS08-014 (for Excel Viewer 2003) or migrate to current Microsoft Office/Office 365 viewer
- Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-014, which addresses this vulnerability in Excel Viewer 2003. This can be done via Windows Update or by downloading the patch directly from Microsoft's Security Bulletin page.
- Ensure the system has all subsequent cumulative security updates applied to maintain protection against other related vulnerabilities.
- Consider migrating to a supported version of Microsoft Office or the latest Office viewers, as Excel Viewer 2003 has reached end of support.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-0113 — 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-2008-0113 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