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Office FrontpageApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2008-4254

HIGH · 8.5 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 →
91/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
Multiple integer overflows in the Hierarchical FlexGrid ActiveX control (mshflxgd.ocx) in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual FoxPro 8.0 SP1 and 9.0 SP1 and SP2 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted (1) Rows and (2) Cols properties to the (a) ExpandAll and (b) CollapseAll methods, related to access of incorrectly initialized objects and corruption of the "system state," aka "Hierarchical FlexGrid Control 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

Memory corruption vulnerability in the Hierarchical FlexGrid ActiveX control (mshflxgd.ocx) used in Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual FoxPro. Integer overflows in the Rows and Cols properties when processed by the ExpandAll and CollapseAll methods allow remote attackers to corrupt memory and execute arbitrary code via specially crafted property values.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patches for this vulnerability, or disable the affected ActiveX control where feasible, and implement network-level controls to block exploitation attempts.

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
Office FrontpageApplication
Affected:= 2002
ProjectApplication
Affected:= 2003= 2007
Visual BasicApplication
Affected:= 6.0
Visual FoxproApplication
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0
Visual Studio .netApplication
Affected:= 2002= 2003

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
Single
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/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. Locate the vulnerable ActiveX control file
    Search for mshflxgd.ocx on the system. Common paths include C:\Windows\System32\ and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ (on 64-bit Windows). Use the command: dir /s C:\mshflxgd.ocx
    Affected if The file mshflxgd.ocx exists on the system and its version falls within vulnerable versions (versions prior to the patched release in 2008)
  2. Check installed version of Visual Basic 6.0
    Open the Visual Basic 6.0 IDE, go to Help > About, or check the file version of vb6.exe in the Visual Basic 6 installation directory
    Affected if Visual Basic 6.0 is installed and the version matches the affected range (6.0)
  3. Check installed version of Visual FoxPro
    Open Visual FoxPro and run ?VERSION() in the command window, or check the file version of VFP*.exe in the installation directory
    Affected if Visual FoxPro 8.0 or 9.0 is installed
  4. Check installed versions of affected Office and Project products
    Check the installed version of FrontPage 2002 and Project 2003/2007 via Add/Remove Programs, or check the file versions of the respective executable files (WINPROJ.EXE for Project, FPXEA.DLL for FrontPage)
    Affected if Microsoft Office FrontPage 2002, Microsoft Project 2003, or Microsoft Project 2007 is installed
  5. Check for web browser exposure
    Inspect the Windows Registry for the control's CLSID under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MSHFLXGD.MSHFlexGrid.1 or check if web pages with embedded FlexGrid controls are accessible internally or externally
    Affected if The ActiveX control is registered and accessible through web browsers or document embedding scenarios

A user is affected if mshflxgd.ocx is present on their system and any of the listed affected products (Visual Basic 6.0, Visual FoxPro 8.0/9.0, FrontPage 2002, Project 2003/2007, Visual Studio .NET 2002/2003) are installed and the ActiveX control is exposed via web or document embedding.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security patches for this vulnerability, or disable the affected ActiveX control where feasible, and implement network-level controls to block exploitation attempts.

Fix this in Office Frontpage Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2008-4254 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