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Office PowerpointApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2009-0220

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-05-12
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
Multiple stack-based buffer overflows in the PowerPoint 4.0 importer (PP4X32.DLL) in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, and 2003 SP3 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted formatting data for paragraphs in a file that uses a PowerPoint 4.0 native file format, related to (1) an incorrect calculation from a record header, or (2) an interget that is used to specify the number of bytes to copy, aka "Legacy File Format 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

Stack-based buffer overflows in Microsoft PowerPoint's PP4X32.dll occur when parsing PowerPoint 4.0 native file format files. The vulnerabilities stem from incorrect calculations derived from record headers and improper integer handling when specifying byte copy lengths, allowing attackers to overwrite stack memory and execute arbitrary code via crafted .ppt files.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for affected Office versions (2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3) or upgrade to unsupported versions that no longer include the vulnerable PP4X32.DLL importer. Consider blocking PowerPoint 4.0 native format files at the enterprise perimeter until patches are applied.

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 PowerpointApplication
Affected:= 2000= 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
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 PowerPoint version
    Open PowerPoint, go to Help > About Microsoft Office PowerPoint, or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office installation. Alternatively, run 'powershell Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\*\PowerPoint\ProductRelease" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object PSChildName'
    Affected if Version is 2000, 2002, or 2003 (these are the only affected versions)
  2. Locate PP4X32.dll on the system
    Search for PP4X32.dll in typical Office installation directories such as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office*, C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office*, or use: powershell Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Program Files","C:\Program Files (x86)" -Recurse -Filter "PP4X32.dll" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    Affected if The file exists on the system (indicates the vulnerable component is present)
  3. Check for PowerPoint 4.0 file format handling capability
    The vulnerability triggers when opening PowerPoint 4.0 native format files (.ppt files saved in PowerPoint 4.0 format). Check if users may have legacy .ppt files from older PowerPoint versions by searching for: powershell Get-ChildItem -Path "*" -Recurse -Filter "*.ppt" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -First 10
    Affected if Legacy PowerPoint 4.0 format files exist in the environment and users have PowerPoint 2000-2003 capable of opening them

A system is affected if it runs PowerPoint 2000, 2002, or 2003 AND has the PP4X32.dll component present AND users may open PowerPoint 4.0 native format files.

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 updates for affected Office versions (2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3) or upgrade to unsupported versions that no longer include the vulnerable PP4X32.DLL importer. Consider blocking PowerPoint 4.0 native format files at the enterprise perimeter until patches are applied.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft Office 2010 or later (or apply MS09-017 security patch to existing Office 2000/2002/2003 installations)

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-017, which addresses CVE-2009-0220 and other PowerPoint vulnerabilities. This patch is available from Microsoft Update or the Microsoft Download Center.
  2. For Office PowerPoint 2000 SP3: Install the MS09-017 update (KB957830)
  3. For Office PowerPoint 2002 SP3: Install the MS09-017 update (KB957831)
  4. For Office PowerPoint 2003 SP3: Install the MS09-017 update (KB957832)
  5. After applying the patch, verify the PP4X32.DLL version has been updated to the patched version for your respective Office release.
  6. Consider upgrading to a supported version of Microsoft Office (2010 or later) as Office 2000/2002/2003 have reached end of support.
Caveat Applying the MS09-017 patch to older Office installations is low-risk; however, Microsoft Office 2000/2002/2003 are no longer supported, so upgrading to a supported version is recommended for ongoing security support.

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

Fix this in Office Powerpoint Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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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-2009-0220 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