CVE-2009-3130
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 · uneditedHeap-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office Excel 2002 SP3, Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac, and Open XML File Format Converter for Mac allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a spreadsheet containing a malformed Binary File Format (aka BIFF) record that triggers memory corruption, aka "Excel Document Parsing Heap 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 confidenceHeap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Microsoft Office Excel's Binary File Format (BIFF) record parser. Malformed spreadsheet files cause memory corruption during document parsing, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via the overflow.
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= 2007= 2002= 2003= 2007all versions= 2003= 2004= 2008all versionsCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Microsoft Excel versionOpen Excel, go to Help > About Microsoft Excel, or run 'winword.exe /?' from command line, or check Add/Remove Programs for installed Microsoft Office componentsAffected if Version is 2002 (10), 2003 (11), or 2007 (12)
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Check Microsoft Office versionOpen any Office app, go to Help > About, or check Add/Remove Programs. For Mac, check Applications folder or run 'ls /Applications | grep -i microsoft'Affected if Version is 2004 (11) or 2008 (12) for Mac with Excel component installed
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Check Excel Viewer versionCheck Add/Remove Programs or registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Viewer\InstallRootAffected if Any version of Excel Viewer is installed (all versions affected)
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Check Compatibility Pack versionCheck Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint' or check Excel version after installing compatibility packAffected if Version shows as 2007 (12) component
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Check Open XML File Format Converter versionCheck Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Open XML File Format Converter' or check running processesAffected if Converter is installed (all versions affected)
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Verify security update KB967171 installationOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, search for 'KB967171', or run 'wmic qfe list' commandAffected if KB967171 is NOT installed (vulnerability still present)
You are affected if any of the following are true: Excel 2002/2003/2007, Office 2004/2008 (Mac), Excel Viewer (any version), Compatibility Pack 2007, or Open XML File Format Converter is installed AND security update KB967171 has not been applied.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scopedApply Microsoft security updates KB967171 (Excel 2002) and corresponding patches for Mac versions. Until patched, warn users not to open untrusted Excel files and disable macro execution in Excel.
Excel 2002 SP4 or later; Excel 2003 with MS09-067 applied; Excel 2007 with MS09-067 applied; Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac with vendor security patches applied
- Identify the exact installed version of Microsoft Office Excel or Microsoft Office for Mac in the environment
- For Excel 2002 users: Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-067, which includes the security update for Excel 2002 SP3
- For Excel 2003 users: Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-067, which includes the security update for Excel 2003
- For Excel 2007 users: Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-067, which includes the security update for Excel 2007
- For Office 2004 for Mac and Office 2008 for Mac users: Apply the corresponding Apple security updates for those products
- For Open XML File Format Converter for Mac users: Apply the corresponding Apple security update
- After patching, verify the updates were successfully installed and restart affected applications if needed
- Exercise caution when opening Excel files from untrusted sources as a defense-in-depth measure
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2009-3130 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2009-3130 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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