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OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2008-4030

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; Outlook 2007 Gold and SP1; Word Viewer 2003 Gold and SP3; and Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats Gold and SP1 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted control words in (1) an RTF file or (2) a rich text e-mail message, which triggers incorrect memory allocation and memory corruption, aka "Word RTF Object Parsing Vulnerability," a different vulnerability than CVE-2008-4028.

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's RTF parser. Attackers craft malicious RTF files containing specially designed control words that trigger incorrect memory allocation, leading to heap corruption and enabling arbitrary code execution when a user opens the file or previews a malicious rich text email in Outlook.

MitigationDeploy the relevant Microsoft security update (MS08-057) across all affected Office installations and disable RTF rendering in Outlook or use the Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) as a protective measure.

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 Microsoft Word, click Help > About Microsoft Office Word, or check the version in Add/Remove Programs. For Outlook, check version via Help > About Microsoft Outlook.
    Affected if The installed version is Word 2000, 2002 (XP), 2003, 2007; or Office 2004, 2008; or Outlook 2007.
  2. Verify Outlook RTF email preview is enabled
    In Outlook 2007, go to Tools > Options > Mail Options > Read tab and check if 'Read all standard mail in plain text' is unchecked, or check if 'Automatically process meeting requests and responses' is enabled which allows RTF rendering.
    Affected if Outlook is configured to automatically render or preview RTF emails without user interaction.
  3. Check for RTF file association handling
    Check if .rtf files are set to open automatically in Word by looking at file associations in Windows Explorer or checking the default program settings.
    Affected if RTF files are configured to automatically open in Microsoft Word without user confirmation.
  4. Confirm security update MS08-057 installation
    Open Windows Update history or check Add/Remove Programs for security update KB954457 (for Office) or check for the patch in the installed updates list.
    Affected if The security update MS08-057 (KB954457) is NOT installed on the system.

You are affected if you run any of the affected Office/Word/Outlook versions (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008) AND the MS08-057 security update is not installed AND your Outlook is configured to automatically preview RTF emails.

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

Deploy the relevant Microsoft security update (MS08-057) across all affected Office installations and disable RTF rendering in Outlook or use the Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) as a protective measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 or later, or migrate to newer Office versions with ongoing support

  1. Navigate to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-057 (October 14, 2008) at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2008/ms08-057
  2. Identify your specific affected product from the 'Affected Software' table
  3. Download the appropriate security update (patch) for your installed Microsoft Office version:
  4. - For Office Word 2000: Download update KB958055 (Office 2000 SP3)
  5. - For Office Word 2002: Download update KB954464 (Office XP SP3)
  6. - For Office Word 2003: Download update KB954066 (Office 2003 SP3)
  7. - For Office Word 2007: Download update KB954307 (Office 2007 SP1)
  8. - For Outlook 2007: Download update KB954307 (Office 2007 SP1)
Caveat Patches are cumulative; applying MS08-057 may require prior service packs. Review update dependencies in the security bulletin before installation.

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-2008-4030 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