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OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2008-4026

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-12-10
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
Microsoft Office Word 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 Gold and SP1; Word Viewer 2003 Gold and SP3; Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats Gold and SP1; Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac; and Open XML File Format Converter for Mac allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Word document that contains a malformed value, which triggers memory corruption, 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 confidence

A memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Word document containing a malformed value. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of Word (2000/2002/2003/2007), Word Viewer, Office Compatibility Pack, and Office for Mac products.

MitigationApply the appropriate Microsoft security update (MS08-072) to all affected Microsoft Office products across the enterprise. Until patched, instruct users to avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Word documents from unknown 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
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2004= 2008
Office Compatibility Pack For Word Excel Ppt 2007Application
Affected:all versions
Office Word ViewerApplication
Affected:= 2003
Open Xml File Format ConverterApplication
Affected:all versions
WorksApplication
Affected:= 8.0
Office OutlookApplication
Affected:= 2007
Office WordApplication
Affected:= 2000= 2002= 2003= 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. Check if Microsoft Office Word is installed
    On Windows, open Control Panel > Programs and Features or run 'wmic product get name,version' to list installed Microsoft Office products. On Mac, check /Applications for Microsoft Word.app and get Info (Cmd+I) for version.
    Affected if Microsoft Office Word version is 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2007.
  2. Check for Word Viewer installation
    Look for 'Word Viewer' in Programs and Features, or check for the executable path (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\WordViewer\). Run 'wmic product where "name like 'Word Viewer'" get name,version'.
    Affected if Word Viewer version 2003 is installed.
  3. Check for Office Compatibility Pack
    In Programs and Features, look for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint'. Run 'wmic product where "name like 'Compatibility Pack'" get name,version'.
    Affected if The Office Compatibility Pack for Word/Excel/PowerPoint 2007 file formats is installed (any version).
  4. Check for other affected Office products
    Check Programs and Features for: Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, Microsoft Open XML File Format Converter, Microsoft Works 8.0, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. On Mac, examine /Applications for these applications and check their versions.
    Affected if Any of these products are installed: Office 2004/2008 for Mac, Open XML File Format Converter (all versions), Works 8.0, or Outlook 2007.
  5. Confirm vulnerability trigger condition
    This vulnerability is triggered when a user opens a specially crafted malformed Word document. Check whether users in your environment have the ability to open Word documents from external or untrusted sources.
    Affected if Users can open Word documents without strict validation, and any affected Word version listed above is in use.

If any of the affected Microsoft Office Word versions (2000, 2002, 2003, 2007), Word Viewer 2003, Office Compatibility Pack, or other affected products listed above are installed and users can open Word documents, the environment is potentially affected by CVE-2008-4026.

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 the appropriate Microsoft security update (MS08-072) to all affected Microsoft Office products across the enterprise. Until patched, instruct users to avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Word documents from unknown sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft Office Word 2000 SP3, Office Word 2002 SP3, Office Word 2003 SP3, Office Word 2007 SP1, Word Viewer 2003 SP3, or Office Compatibility Pack 2007 SP1

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Update MS08-072 (KB957173) which addresses this vulnerability
  2. For Office Word 2000: Install Security Update MS08-072 for Office Word 2000
  3. For Office Word 2002: Install Security Update MS08-072 for Office Word 2002
  4. For Office Word 2003: Install Security Update MS08-072 for Office Word 2003
  5. For Office Word 2007: Install Security Update MS08-072 for Office Word 2007
  6. For Word Viewer 2003: Install Security Update MS08-072 for Word Viewer 2003
  7. For Office Compatibility Pack 2007: Install Security Update MS08-072
  8. For Office 2004/2008 for Mac: Apply the corresponding Mac security update
Caveat This is a legacy 2008 vulnerability; affected products (Office 2000-2008) are end-of-life and no longer receive security updates. Consider migrating to a supported Microsoft Office version or Microsoft 365.

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

Fix this in Office Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2008-4026 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