dbcve.org
ExcelApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2010-0263

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2010-03-10
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
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 SP1 and SP2; Office 2008 for Mac; Open XML File Format Converter for Mac; Office Excel Viewer SP1 and SP2; Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP1 and SP2; and Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP1 and SP2 do not validate ZIP headers during decompression of Open XML (.XLSX) documents, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted document that triggers access to uninitialized memory locations, aka "Microsoft Office Excel XLSX File Parsing Code Execution 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

Microsoft Office Excel fails to validate ZIP headers when decompressing Open XML (.XLSX) files. This allows a specially crafted malicious XLSX document to trigger access to uninitialized memory locations, leading to arbitrary code execution with user privileges.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (MS10-017) to all affected Office installations. Until patched, warn users not to open untrusted XLSX documents and consider blocking XLSX attachments at the email gateway.

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:= 2002= 2003= 2007
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2004= 2008
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:= 2007
Office Excel ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions
Office Sharepoint ServerApplication
Affected:= 2007
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
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. Check installed Microsoft Excel version
    Open Excel, go to Help > About Microsoft Excel, or check the file version of EXCEL.EXE in the Office installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX\)
    Affected if Version is 2002 (10.x), 2003 (11.x), or 2007 (12.x)
  2. Check installed Microsoft Office version
    Check the file version of WINWORD.EXE or the Office common DLLs, or check registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\version\InstallRoot
    Affected if Version is 2004 (11.x) or 2008 (12.x) for Mac, or Office 2007 (12.x) for Windows with Excel component
  3. Check Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack version
    Check version of ExcelCnv.exe in the Compatibility Pack installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\)
    Affected if Version corresponds to Office Compatibility Pack for Office 2007
  4. Check Microsoft Office Excel Viewer
    Check version of XLVIEW.EXE in the Excel Viewer installation directory
    Affected if Excel Viewer is installed (all versions affected)
  5. Check Microsoft Open XML File Format Converter version
    Check version of the converter service or executable (typically installed as a system service or in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Document Conversion\)
    Affected if Converter is installed (all versions affected)
  6. Confirm XLSX file handling capability is present
    Try opening a legitimate .xlsx file in the installed Excel/Office version, or check if the Open XML file format handler DLLs (like excel.exe, EXCEL12.DLL, EXCELCNV.EXE) exist
    Affected if The software can open .xlsx files and the relevant parsing DLLs are present

If any of the above checks show an affected version (Excel/Office 2002-2007, Compatibility Pack 2007, any Excel Viewer, or Open XML File Format Converter) and the system can handle XLSX files, the environment is potentially affected by CVE-2010-0263.

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 (MS10-017) to all affected Office installations. Until patched, warn users not to open untrusted XLSX documents and consider blocking XLSX attachments at the email gateway.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Service Pack 2 or later; Office 2008 for Mac with latest Apple security updates; Office SharePoint Server 2007 with MS10-017 applied

  1. Obtain and install the Microsoft security update for this vulnerability. For Windows systems, this was addressed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-017 (Microsoft Office Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability).
  2. For Office Excel 2007 users: Install Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Office 2007, which includes the security fix for ZIP header validation.
  3. For Office 2008 for Mac and Open XML File Format Converter for Mac users: Obtain and install the corresponding Apple security updates for Mac OS X.
  4. For Office Excel Viewer users: Uninstall the viewer and upgrade to a supported Microsoft Office version, or apply any available Microsoft updates.
  5. For Office SharePoint Server 2007 users: Apply the MS10-017 security update through Windows Update or Microsoft Update.
  6. For Office Compatibility Pack users: Install the MS10-017 update to patch the file format converter.
Caveat Upgrading Office may introduce interface changes; ensure compatibility with existing workflows and other Office documents

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

Fix this in Excel Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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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-2010-0263 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