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PowerpointApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2010-0034

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2010-02-10
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
Stack-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 SP3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted PowerPoint document, aka "Office PowerPoint Viewer TextCharsAtom Record Stack 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 PowerPoint 2003 SP3 (PowerPoint Viewer) when processing malformed TextCharsAtom records in crafted PowerPoint files. Successful exploitation allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the current user.

MitigationApply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-004 (KB975578) to patch the vulnerability. Additionally, block or warn on untrusted PowerPoint attachments and ensure users do not open documents from untrusted sources.

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
PowerpointApplication
Affected:= 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. Confirm PowerPoint 2003 installation
    Check for POWERPNT.EXE in the Office11 folder (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\POWERPNT.EXE) or query the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\PowerPoint\InstallRoot
    Affected if POWERPNT.EXE version 11.x exists without corresponding security patch
  2. Identify exact PowerPoint version
    Right-click POWERPNT.EXE, select Properties, and view the File Version field. Alternatively, run 'wmic product where "name like 'Microsoft Office%'" get version, name' or check HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PowerPoint.Show.12.0\CurFile\ID
    Affected if Version begins with 11.0 (Office 2003) and the security update is absent
  3. Verify patch KB975578 is installed
    Run 'wmic qfe get hotfixid,installedon' or check Add/Remove Programs for update 975578, or query registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\UpdateExeVolatile for the update marker
    Affected if KB975578 is not listed among installed updates
  4. Check patched DLL version
    Locate ppcore.dll in the Office11 folder (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\ppcore.dll) and check its file version. The patched version addresses the TextCharsAtom parsing flaw
    Affected if ppcore.dll version is older than the patched version for MS10-004

The environment is affected if Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 is installed and the MS10-004 security update (KB975578) has not been 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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-004 (KB975578) to patch the vulnerability. Additionally, block or warn on untrusted PowerPoint attachments and ensure users do not open documents from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft Office 2007 or Microsoft Office 2010 (or later)

  1. Verify the installed version of Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 by opening PowerPoint and going to Help > About Microsoft Office PowerPoint
  2. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-004, which addresses this vulnerability. This bulletin was released February 2010 and includes the patch for CVE-2010-0034
  3. For PowerPoint 2003 specifically, install the update from.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletins/MS10-004
  4. After installation, restart the computer and verify the update was successfully applied through Windows Update > View update history
  5. Alternatively, consider upgrading to a newer version of Microsoft Office (2007 or 2010) which are not affected by this specific vulnerability
Caveat Upgrading from Office 2003 to Office 2007/2010 may introduce compatibility issues with older file formats and add-ins, and requires new product licensing

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

Fix this in Powerpoint Scoped from the published advisory
  • 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-2010-0034 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data