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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 22 Jun 2022.
OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2009-0563

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2009-06-10
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS No privileges Patch available

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
Stack-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office Word 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 SP1 and SP2; Microsoft Office for Mac 2004 and 2008; Open XML File Format Converter for Mac; Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 SP3; Microsoft Office Word Viewer; and Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP1 and SP2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a Word document with a crafted tag containing an invalid length field, aka "Word Buffer Overflow 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 overflow vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word parsing code. When processing a specially crafted Word document containing a tag with an invalid length field, the application writes beyond the boundaries of an allocated stack buffer, allowing attackers to overwrite return addresses and execute arbitrary code.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (MS09-027) to all affected Office installations, or upgrade to versions beyond the listed service packs. Until patched, avoid opening untrusted Word documents.

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
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2000= 2003= 2004= 2007= 2008= xp
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:= 2007
Office Word 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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 Office Word version
    Open Word, click Help > About Microsoft Office Word, or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office installation
    Affected if Version is 2000, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, or XP without security update MS09-010 applied
  2. Verify MS09-010 security patch is installed
    Open Windows Update, view update history, or check Add/Remove Programs for security update KB961063 (Office 2000/2003) or KB961064 (Office 2007)
    Affected if The MS09-010 security update is not listed as installed
  3. Check Microsoft Office Word Viewer installation
    Check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office Word Viewer, verify version in program properties
    Affected if Word Viewer is installed and is an unpatched version
  4. Check Office Compatibility Pack version
    Check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Office 2007, verify version
    Affected if Compatibility Pack for Office 2007 is installed without MS09-010 patch applied

Environment is affected if any affected Office product (Word 2000-2008, Word Viewer, Compatibility Pack 2007) is installed without the MS09-010 security patch applied.

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch docs.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates (MS09-027) to all affected Office installations, or upgrade to versions beyond the listed service packs. Until patched, avoid opening untrusted Word documents.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft Office 2010 or later / Microsoft 365 (Office 2007 and Office 2003 with SP3 were patched via MS09-027 but upgrading to a supported version is recommended for continued security support)

  1. Check current Microsoft Office version by opening Word and going to Help > About Microsoft Office Word
  2. Download and install the relevant Microsoft security update. For CVE-2009-0563, this is MS09-027 (KB969603). Visit https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-027 to obtain the appropriate patch for your specific Office version and service pack level
  3. Restart the computer after installing the patch
  4. Alternatively, if running unsupported Office versions (2000, 2004 for Mac, 2008 for Mac, or Open XML File Format Converter for Mac), upgrade to a supported version such as Microsoft Office 2010 or later, or Microsoft 365
Caveat Upgrading from Office 2000/2004/2008 may introduce compatibility issues with older file formats or macros; ensure testing before production deployment

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

Fix this in Office Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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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-2009-0563 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