CVE-2008-2244
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 · uneditedMicrosoft Office Word 2002 SP3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a .doc file that contains malformed data, as exploited in the wild in July 2008, and as demonstrated by attachement.doc.
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 Office Word 2002 SP3 that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by tricking users into opening .doc files containing malformed data. Exploited in the wild in July 2008.
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= 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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Verify Office Word version installedOpen Word, go to Help > About Microsoft Office Word, or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office installationAffected if The version shown is exactly 2002 (or 10.x) rather than a newer version like 2003, 2007, or later
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Confirm Office service pack levelCheck the installed updates via Windows Update history or the Office installer information for Service Pack 3Affected if Office Word 2002 SP3 is installed (the vulnerable version per the CVE)
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Identify file handling behaviorExamine if the system processes .doc attachments from email or downloads from untrusted sourcesAffected if Users routinely open .doc files from unknown or untrusted sources without validation, as this is the attack vector for this vulnerability
Your environment is affected if Microsoft Office Word 2002 (version 10.x) is installed and users open malformed .doc files from untrusted sources, since the vulnerability exists specifically in this version and was exploited in the wild.
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 · scopedDo not open untrusted or unexpected .doc files. Apply Microsoft security patches for Office 2002 or upgrade to a supported Office version.
Microsoft Office 2007 or later (Office 2002 is end-of-life; Microsoft no longer provides security updates for Office 2002)
- 1. Verify the current installed version of Microsoft Office Word by opening Word, clicking 'Help' menu, and selecting 'About Microsoft Office Word'
- 2. Back up all important .doc files and personal data before making any changes
- 3. Upgrade to a supported Microsoft Office version (Office 2002 is no longer supported by Microsoft)
- 4. Alternatively, if upgrade is not immediately possible, apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-026 if patches are still available through your organization's update infrastructure
- 5. After applying fix, verify the vulnerability is addressed by attempting to open the malformed .doc file in a controlled test environment
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- 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-2008-2244 — 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-2008-2244 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