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OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2008-4027

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
Double free vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 Gold and SP1; Outlook 2007 Gold and SP1; Word Viewer 2003 Gold and SP3; Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats Gold and SP1; and Office 2004 for Mac allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted (1) RTF file or (2) rich text e-mail message with multiple consecutive Drawing Object ("\do") tags, which triggers a "memory calculation error" and memory corruption, aka "Word RTF Object Parsing 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

Double free vulnerability in Microsoft Office RTF parsing occurs when multiple consecutive Drawing Object (\do) tags are present in a crafted RTF file or email message. This triggers a memory calculation error leading to memory corruption and allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via the malformed RTF content.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patches (MS08-072) to all affected Office installations. Consider disabling RTF rendering in Outlook or deploying email gateway filtering to block malicious RTF attachments as defense-in-depth measures.

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. Identify installed Microsoft Office Word version
    Open Word, go to Help > About Microsoft Office Word, or run 'winword.exe /?' to display version information. Alternatively, check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Word\InstallRoot for the installed version number.
    Affected if The installed version matches 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, or 2008 (for Mac) and has not been patched with MS08-072.
  2. Identify installed Microsoft Office Outlook version
    Open Outlook, go to Help > About Microsoft Office Outlook, or check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Outlook\InstallRoot.
    Affected if The installed version is 2007 and has not been patched with MS08-072.
  3. Check for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack
    Verify if the Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 file formats is installed. Check Add/Remove Programs (Programs and Features) for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats', or check the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\CompatibilityPack\InstallRoot.
    Affected if The Compatibility Pack is installed (all versions are affected) and has not been patched.
  4. Check for Microsoft Office Word Viewer
    Verify if Microsoft Office Word Viewer is installed. Check Add/Remove Programs or the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\WordViewer\InstallRoot.
    Affected if Word Viewer version 2003 is installed and has not been patched.
  5. If Outlook is installed, verify whether RTF (Rich Text Format) parsing is enabled for incoming email. Check Outlook's Trust Center settings (File > Options > Tr
    Affected if RTF scanning is enabled (not disabled) and the Outlook version is affected, making the system vulnerable to RTF-based exploitation via email.

A system is affected if it runs any unpatched Microsoft Office product from the affected versions list (Word 2000/2002/2003/2007, Outlook 2007, Office 2004/2008, Word Viewer 2003, Compatibility Pack, Open XML File Format Converter, or Works 8.0) and processes RTF content with RTF rendering enabled.

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 patches (MS08-072) to all affected Office installations. Consider disabling RTF rendering in Outlook or deploying email gateway filtering to block malicious RTF attachments as defense-in-depth measures.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to currently supported Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365 (Office 2016/2019/365)

  1. Identify the specific Microsoft Office product and version currently installed (Word, Outlook, Word Viewer, or Compatibility Pack)
  2. For Office 2000, 2002, and 2003: These products are end-of-life and no longer receive security updates; migrate to a currently supported Microsoft Office version or Microsoft 365
  3. For Office 2007: Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-062 if available, or upgrade to a supported version since Office 2007 reached end of support in 2017
  4. For Office 2004/2008 for Mac: Upgrade to a supported version of Microsoft Office for Mac
  5. For Works 8.0: This product is end-of-life; migrate to a currently supported Microsoft product
  6. After upgrading, ensure the new version is fully patched with the latest security updates
Caveat Upgrading from Office 2000-2007 to modern Office versions may require license purchase, and older file formats or macros may need updating; some legacy features may not be available in newer versions

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

Fix this in Office Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
27.0 hours of engineering $4,800
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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-2008-4027 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