CVE-2010-2748
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 Word 2002 SP3 and Office 2004 for Mac do not properly check an unspecified boundary during parsing of a Word document, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted document that triggers memory corruption, aka "Word Boundary Check 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 confidenceA boundary check vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2002 SP3 and Office 2004 for Mac allows remote code execution through crafted Word documents. The parser fails to properly validate boundaries during document parsing, leading to memory corruption when processing maliciously constructed files.
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= 2004= 2002CVSS 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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Identify installed Microsoft Word version on WindowsOpen Microsoft Word, click Help, then About Microsoft Word. Note the version number (e.g., 10.0.xxxx for Word 2002). Alternatively, check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\InstallRoot for version information.Affected if The version shown is 10.0.6856.0 or lower (Word 2002 SP3) - compare against affected version range = 2002 SP3
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Identify installed Microsoft Office version on MacOpen any Office application (such as Word), click the application name in the menu bar, then click About [Application]. Note the version number (e.g., 11.x for Office 2004 for Mac).Affected if The version shown is 11.x (Office 2004 for Mac) - compare against affected version range = 2004 for Mac
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Verify Word document parsing component is presentConfirm Microsoft Word executable (WINWORD.EXE) exists on the system, typically in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office10\Affected if WINWORD.EXE is present and matches the affected version ranges listed above
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Check for recent or unexpected Word document filesSearch the file system for .doc files in user download folders, email attachments directories, or recent documents locations as potential vectors for malicious documents.Affected if Users regularly open Word documents from untrusted or unknown sources without additional scrutiny
A system is affected if Microsoft Word 2002 SP3 (version 10.0.x up to 10.0.6856.0) or Office 2004 for Mac (version 11.x) is installed and users open crafted malicious Word documents.
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 KB2288601 or KB2289163 to address the boundary check vulnerability. Additionally, configure Protected View in Microsoft Office to open documents from untrusted sources in a sandboxed state and warn users not to open unexpected Word attachments.
Microsoft Office 2010 or later (Word 2010+) for Windows; Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac or later
- 1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-056 which addresses this vulnerability
- 2. For Word 2002 SP3, install the security update from MS10-056
- 3. For Office 2004 for Mac, apply the security update via Microsoft AutoUpdate or manual download from Microsoft
- 4. Verify the update was applied successfully via Windows Update or Mac software update
- 5. Restart the application and system if required
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-2748 — 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-2010-2748 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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- 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