CVE-2010-1901
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 · uneditedMicrosoft 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; and Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP2 do not properly handle unspecified properties in rich text data, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted RTF document, aka "Word RTF Parsing Engine Memory Corruption 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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office's RTF parsing engine allows remote code execution via specially crafted RTF documents containing malformed rich text properties. The vulnerability affects multiple Office versions for Windows and Mac, as well as Office viewers and compatibility packs.
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= 2002= 2003= 2007= 2004= 2008all versions= 2007all 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 Word versionOpen Word, go to Help > About Microsoft Office Word, or check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\{version}\Word\InstallRootAffected if Version is 2002, 2003, or 2007
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Check Microsoft Office version (Mac)Open any Office application, go to About Microsoft Office, or check /Applications/Microsoft Office {year}/Office folder for version infoAffected if Version is 2004 or 2008 for Mac
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Check for Office Compatibility PackCheck Add/Remove Programs (Windows) or the installed Microsoft Office applications for 'Compatibility Pack'Affected if Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for 2007 is installed
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Check for Office Word ViewerCheck Add/Remove Programs (Windows) for 'Microsoft Office Word Viewer' or check registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WordViewerAffected if Microsoft Office Word Viewer is installed of any version
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Check for Open Xml File Format ConverterCheck Add/Remove Programs (Windows) or look for 'Microsoft Open XML File Format Converter' in installed programsAffected if Microsoft Open Xml File Format Converter is installed of any version
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Confirm RTF file handling is enabledVerify that Microsoft Word or the installed Office component can open and parse .rtf files; this is default behavior unless explicitly disabledAffected if RTF file parsing is enabled (default state) and an affected version above is installed
User is affected if any of the following are installed: Microsoft Word 2002/2003/2007, Microsoft Office 2004/2008 (Mac), Office Compatibility Pack 2007, Office Word Viewer (any version), or Open XML File Format Converter (any version) AND RTF file handling is enabled.
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 Update MS10-036 to all affected Office installations, or disable RTF file handling in Microsoft Office if patches are unavailable.
Microsoft Office 2010 or later (or apply MS10-036 security update KB983314 for legacy versions)
- 1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-036 (KB983314) which addresses this specific vulnerability for the affected Office products
- 2. For Windows systems: Go to Microsoft Update or check Windows Update for available security updates
- 3. Install the appropriate security update for your Office version (Word 2002 SP3, Word 2003 SP3, or Word 2007 SP2)
- 4. For Mac systems: Apply the security update for Office 2004 and Office 2008 for Mac
- 5. After applying updates, restart the affected applications and systems
- 6. Alternatively, upgrade to a currently supported Microsoft Office version (Office 2010 or later) which includes the security fix
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-1901 — 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-2010-1901 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