CVE-2010-3217
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 · uneditedDouble free vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2002 SP3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a Word document with crafted List Format Override (LFO) records, aka "Word Pointer 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 double-free vulnerability exists in Microsoft Word 2002 SP3 when parsing specially crafted Word documents containing malicious List Format Override (LFO) records. This memory corruption allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by tricking users into opening a malformed document.
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= 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 versionOpen Word, go to Help > About Microsoft Office Word, or check registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Application\CurVer, or run 'wmic product where "name like '%Office%Word%'" get name,version'Affected if The version displayed is Microsoft Word 2002 (version 10.x)
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Confirm service pack levelIn Word, check Help > About, or check registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\InstallRoot for SP3 indicator, or inspect the version string for '10.0.xxxx' where xxxx indicates SP3Affected if Word 2002 is at Service Pack 3 (SP3) level
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Verify .doc file association with WordCheck file associations via Control Panel > Default Programs > Associate a file type or protocol with a program, looking for .doc extensions pointing to WINWORD.EXE from Office 10Affected if .doc files open with Microsoft Word 2002 as the default handler
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Inspect for recent Word document processingReview recent file access events in Windows Event Viewer under Security or Application logs, or check recent documents in Word's Recent Files listAffected if Users have recently opened .doc files from potentially untrusted sources
Environment is affected if Microsoft Word 2002 SP3 is installed and users open .doc files, as the double-free vulnerability triggers when parsing malicious LFO records in crafted 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 the Microsoft security update (MS10-056) to patch the vulnerability, or upgrade to a supported Microsoft Office version. Until patched, disable Word's file opening in untrusted environments and warn users not to open documents from untrusted sources.
Microsoft Office 2002 SP3 with MS10-071 security update (or subsequent cumulative updates)
- Open Microsoft Word 2002
- Go to Help > Check for Updates or visit https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/
- Download and install the latest security updates for Office 2002
- Alternatively, visit Microsoft Update (https://update.microsoft.com/) to automatically detect and install security patches
- Restart Word after installing updates
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-3217 — 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-2010-3217 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
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