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Office FrontpageApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2008-4256

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
The Charts ActiveX control in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Studio .NET 2002 SP1 and 2003 SP1, and Visual FoxPro 8.0 SP1 and 9.0 SP1 and SP2 does not properly handle errors during access to incorrectly initialized objects, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTML document, related to corruption of the "system state," aka "Charts 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

This is a memory corruption vulnerability in the Charts ActiveX control included with Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Studio .NET 2002/2003 SP1, and Visual FoxPro 8.0/9.0 SP1/SP2. The control fails to properly handle errors when accessing incorrectly initialized objects, leading to system state corruption that can be exploited via malicious HTML documents to achieve remote code execution.

MitigationDisable the vulnerable Charts ActiveX control in Internet Explorer via kill bit, or remove/decommission the affected legacy Visual Studio/Vision FoxPro runtimes if no longer required, as these products are end-of-life.

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. Identify installed Microsoft legacy products
    Check Programs and Features or run 'wmic product get name,version' to list installed Microsoft products. Look for: Microsoft Office Frontpage 2002, Microsoft Project 2003 or 2007, Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, Microsoft Visual FoxPro 8.0 or 9.0, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002 or 2003.
    Affected if Any of the listed affected products and versions are installed on the system.
  2. Locate the Charts ActiveX control DLL
    Search for the Charts control DLL file on the system. Common paths include C:\Windows\System32\ or product-specific directories under Program Files. The file is typically named something like 'mschrt20.ocx' or similar charting control.
    Affected if The Charts ActiveX control DLL is present on the system.
  3. Check if Charts control is registered
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\ or HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\. Search for CLSID values associated with the Charts ActiveX control. You can also run 'regsvr32 /u <control.dll>' to check registration status.
    Affected if The Charts control is registered in the Windows registry.
  4. Verify IE ActiveX control settings
    Open Internet Explorer, go to Internet Options > Security > Custom Level > ActiveX controls and plugins. Check if the Charts control is set to Enabled or Prompt. Also check 'Manage Add-ons' in IE to see if the Charts control is listed as enabled.
    Affected if The Charts ActiveX control is enabled in Internet Explorer.
  5. Check for kill bit configuration
    Examine the registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\ for the Charts control's CLSID. If a 'Compatibility Flags' value exists with data 0x00000400, the kill bit is set (mitigated). If absent or zero, the control is vulnerable.
    Affected if The kill bit is NOT set for the Charts control (value missing or not 0x00000400).

The system is affected if any of the vulnerable products are installed AND the Charts ActiveX control is present, registered, and not blocked by a kill bit in Internet Explorer.

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

Disable the vulnerable Charts ActiveX control in Internet Explorer via kill bit, or remove/decommission the affected legacy Visual Studio/Vision FoxPro runtimes if no longer required, as these products are end-of-life.

Fix this in Office Frontpage Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2008-4256 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
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