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Lotus NotesApplication · Ibm

CVE-2009-3037

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-09-01
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click 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
Buffer overflow in xlssr.dll in the Autonomy KeyView XLS viewer (aka File Viewer for Excel), as used in IBM Lotus Notes 5.x through 8.5.x, Symantec Mail Security, Symantec BrightMail Appliance, Symantec Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and other products, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted .xls spreadsheet attachment.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-119

The program reads or writes outside the bounds of an allocated buffer, corrupting adjacent memory. With crafted input an attacker can overwrite control data and, with effort, redirect execution to their own code. Remediation ranges from bounds checking and safe library functions to compiler mitigations, usually alongside a careful audit of the surrounding code.

General guidance for the memory buffer bounds error class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Lotus NotesApplication
Affected:= 5.0= 5.0.1= 5.0.2= 5.0.3= 5.0.4= 5.0.5= 5.0.6= 5.0.9a= 5.0.10= 5.0.11= 5.0.12= 5.02
Brightmail ApplianceApplication
Affected:= 5.0= 8.0.0= 8.0.1
Data Loss Prevention Detection ServersApplication
Affected:= 7.2= 8.1.1= 9.0.1
Data Loss Prevention Endpoint AgentsApplication
Affected:= 8.1.1= 9.0.1
Mail SecurityApplication
Affected:= 5.0= 5.0.0= 5.0.1= 5.0.1.181= 5.0.1.182= 5.0.1.189= 5.0.1.200= 5.0.10= 5.0.11= 5.0.12= 6.0.6= 6.0.7
Mail Security ApplianceApplication
Affected:= 5.0= 5.0.0.24= 5.0.0.36
KeyviewApplication
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

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 www-01.ibm.com →
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest stable release of the respective product (Lotus Notes 8.5.x or later, Brightmail Appliance latest version, DLP latest version, Mail Security latest version)

  1. 1. Identify all affected products in your environment from the list: Lotus Notes, Brightmail Appliance, Data Loss Prevention Detection Servers, Data Loss Prevention Endpoint Agents, Mail Security, Mail Security Appliance, and Keyview.
  2. 2. For each affected product, determine the exact version currently installed.
  3. 3. Access the IBM support portal at http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21396492 to obtain the vendor patch for this vulnerability.
  4. 4. If patches are unavailable for your product version, consider upgrading to the latest stable release of the respective product.
  5. 5. Apply the patch or upgrade in a staging environment first to verify compatibility.
  6. 6. Test that the XLS file viewing functionality works correctly after patching.
  7. 7. Deploy the patch or upgrade to production systems.
  8. 8. Verify the vulnerability is remediated by attempting to open a crafted .xls file (in a controlled test environment) to confirm the buffer overflow is no longer exploitable.
Caveat Upgrading from very old versions (5.x) to current versions may introduce significant changes in functionality, user interface, and system requirements; thorough compatibility testing is recommended

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

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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-2009-3037 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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