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WordApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2010-1900

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2010-08-11
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 Word 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 SP2; Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac; Open XML File Format Converter for Mac; Office Word Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP2; and Works 9 do not properly handle malformed records in a Word file, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted file, aka "Word Record Parsing 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

Memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word's parsing of malformed records within crafted .doc files. The improper handling of these malformed records allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service via specially crafted Word documents.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (MS10-036) to all affected Office installations; enable Protected View in Office to open files from untrusted sources in a sandbox; implement email/ download filtering to block suspicious Word attachments.

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
WordApplication
Affected:= 2002= 2003= 2007
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2004= 2008
Open Xml File Format ConverterApplication
Affected:all versions
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:= 2007
Office Word ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions
WorksApplication
Affected:= 9.0

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. Identify installed Microsoft Word version
    Open Word, go to File > Help, or check Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, or query the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\{version}\Word\InstallRoot
    Affected if The version shown is 2002 (10.x), 2003 (11.x), or 2007 (12.x)
  2. Identify installed Microsoft Office suite version
    Check Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, or query registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\{version}\Common\InstallRoot
    Affected if The version shown is Office 2004 (11.x), Office 2008 (12.x), or Office Compatibility Pack 2007 (12.x)
  3. Identify Microsoft Office Word Viewer installation
    Check Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Office Word Viewer' or check registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word\Viewer
    Affected if Microsoft Office Word Viewer is installed (any version)
  4. Identify Microsoft Works installation
    Check Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Works' or check registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Works
    Affected if Microsoft Works version 9.0 is installed
  5. Identify Microsoft Open Xml File Format Converter
    Check Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Open XML File Format Converter for Mac' or check registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Converter
    Affected if The converter is installed (any version)

A user is affected if any of the following vulnerable products are installed: Word 2002/2003/2007, Office 2004/2008, Office Compatibility Pack 2007, Office Word Viewer (any version), Works 9.0, or Open XML File Format Converter (any version).

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 (MS10-036) to all affected Office installations; enable Protected View in Office to open files from untrusted sources in a sandbox; implement email/ download filtering to block suspicious Word attachments.

Recommended fix High confidence
  1. Navigate to Microsoft Update (update.microsoft.com) or use Windows Update
  2. Search for security updates released in June 2010 for Microsoft Office
  3. Install Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-037 (or KB983155) which addresses this Word Record Parsing vulnerability
  4. Restart the computer if prompted
  5. Verify the update was installed by checking installed updates via Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates

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

Fix this in Word Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2010-1900 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