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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 28 Apr 2026.
ExcelApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2009-0238

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2009-02-25
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
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges

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 SP1; Excel Viewer 2003 Gold and SP3; Excel Viewer; Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP1; and Excel in Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Excel document that triggers an access attempt on an invalid object, as exploited in the wild in February 2009 by Trojan.Mdropper.AC.

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 Microsoft Excel allowing remote code execution via a crafted Excel file that triggers an access attempt on an invalid object. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of Excel (2000/2002/2003/2007) and was actively exploited in the wild by Trojan.Mdropper.AC.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for this vulnerability; until patched, avoid opening Excel files from untrusted sources and disable macro execution in Office applications.

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
ExcelApplication
Affected:= 2000= 2002= 2003= 2007
Excel ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2004= 2008
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:= 2007
Office Excel ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions= 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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 Excel version
    Open Excel, click Help > About Microsoft Excel, or check Programs and Features in Control Panel for the installed Microsoft Office/Excel version
    Affected if The installed version is Excel 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2007
  2. Check for Microsoft Excel Viewer installation
    Check Add or Remove Programs (Programs and Features) for 'Microsoft Excel Viewer' or 'Excel Viewer' installed on the system
    Affected if Microsoft Excel Viewer of any version is installed
  3. Check Microsoft Office for Mac version on macOS systems
    Open Microsoft Office application, go to the application menu > About Microsoft Office, or check /Applications folder for Office applications
    Affected if Microsoft Office 2004 or 2008 for Mac is installed
  4. Check Office Compatibility Pack installation
    Check Add or Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats'
    Affected if Office Compatibility Pack version 2007 is installed
  5. Verify Excel file handling capability is enabled
    Confirm that Excel or the Excel Viewer is configured to open .xls files, as the vulnerability is triggered when opening a crafted malicious Excel document
    Affected if The system can open Excel documents and no additional hardening or file blocking is applied to untrusted Excel files

The environment is affected if any version of Excel 2000-2007, Excel Viewer, Office 2004/2008 for Mac, or Office Compatibility Pack 2007 is installed and capable of opening Excel documents.

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 this vulnerability; until patched, avoid opening Excel files from untrusted sources and disable macro execution in Office applications.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-009 patches; for long-term fix, upgrade to Office 2010 or later which includes the security fix

  1. Open Microsoft Update or check Windows Update for available Office security updates
  2. Locate and install the security update corresponding to CVE-2009-0238 (Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-009)
  3. For Excel 2000: Ensure Service Pack 3 is installed, then apply the MS09-009 patch
  4. For Excel 2002: Ensure Service Pack 3 is installed, then apply the MS09-009 patch
  5. For Excel 2003: Ensure Service Pack 3 is installed, then apply the MS09-009 patch
  6. For Excel 2007: Ensure Service Pack 1 is installed, then apply the MS09-009 patch
  7. For Excel Viewer 2003: Apply the MS09-009 patch
  8. For Office Compatibility Pack for Office 2007: Apply the MS09-009 patch
Caveat MS09-009 was a cumulative patch with no known breaking changes for end users

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

Fix this in Excel Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • 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-2009-0238 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