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Office ExcelApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2008-4264

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 Excel 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 Gold and SP1; Excel Viewer 2003 Gold and SP3; Excel Viewer; 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 Excel spreadsheet that contains a malformed formula, which triggers "pointer corruption" during the loading of formulas from this spreadsheet, aka "File Format 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

This is a file format parsing vulnerability in Microsoft Excel where a specially crafted Excel spreadsheet containing a malformed formula triggers pointer corruption during formula loading, allowing remote code execution. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of Excel and related Office products across Windows and Mac platforms.

MitigationDeploy Microsoft security update MS09-009 to all affected systems and advise users to avoid opening untrusted Excel files 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
Office ExcelApplication
Affected:= 2000= 2002= 2003
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2004= 2008
Office Compatibility Pack For Word Excel Ppt 2007Application
Affected:all versions
Office Excel ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions= 2003
Open Xml File Format ConverterApplication
Affected:all versions

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 Excel version on Windows
    Open Excel, click Help > About Microsoft Office Excel, or check Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel for Microsoft Office Excel entry
    Affected if Version listed is 2000, 2002, or 2003 (any Service Pack)
  2. Identify installed Microsoft Office version on Mac
    Open any Office application, use Excel > About Microsoft Excel, or check Applications folder for Microsoft Office version
    Affected if Version listed is 2004 or 2008 for Mac
  3. Check for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack
    Look in Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats'
    Affected if Compatibility Pack is installed (any version)
  4. Check for Microsoft Office Excel Viewer
    Look in Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Office Excel Viewer' or check Program Files for ExcelView folder
    Affected if Excel Viewer is installed (any version, including 2003)
  5. Check for Open XML File Format Converter
    Look in Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Open XML File Format Converter for Mac' or check Applications folder on Mac
    Affected if Open XML File Format Converter is installed (any version)

You are affected if any of the following is true: Excel 2000/2002/2003 is installed on Windows, Office 2004/2008 is installed on Mac, or any version of Excel Viewer, Compatibility Pack, or Open XML File Format Converter is present and you open a specially crafted malformed Excel file.

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 Microsoft security update MS09-009 to all affected systems and advise users to avoid opening untrusted Excel files from unknown sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apply MS08-057 security update from Microsoft (specific to each affected product)

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-057 which addresses this vulnerability (CVE-2008-4264)
  2. For Office Excel 2000: Ensure Service Pack 3 is installed, then apply the MS08-057 patch
  3. For Office Excel 2002: Ensure Service Pack 3 is installed, then apply the MS08-057 patch
  4. For Office Excel 2003: Ensure Service Pack 3 is installed, then apply the MS08-057 patch
  5. For Office Excel 2007: Ensure Service Pack 1 is installed, then apply the MS08-057 patch
  6. For Office Compatibility Pack: Apply the MS08-057 patch
  7. For Excel Viewer 2003: Apply the MS08-057 patch
  8. For Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac: Apply the respective MS08-057 updates for Mac
Caveat Patches for older Office versions may have compatibility issues; test in non-production environment first

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

Fix this in Office Excel Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2008-4264 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