CVE-2010-3237
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 Excel 2002 SP3 and Office 2004 for Mac do not properly validate record information, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Excel document, aka "Merge Cell Record 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 confidenceThis is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Excel 2002 SP3 and Office 2004 for Mac where improper validation of merge cell record pointers allows remote code execution when users open specially crafted Excel 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= 2002= 2004CVSS 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 installed Microsoft Excel version on WindowsOpen Excel, go to Help > About Microsoft Excel, or check Excel.exe properties, or query registry at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Application\CurVerAffected if Version displayed is Excel 2002 (version 10.x)
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Confirm Excel 2002 service pack levelIn Excel, check Help > About for 'Service Pack 3' or query registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Excel\InstallRootAffected if Service Pack is 3 or if service pack cannot be determined but Excel 2002 is confirmed
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Check for Microsoft Office 2004 for MacOn Mac, open any Office application, go to [App Name] > About [App Name], or check Applications > Microsoft Office 2004 folderAffected if Office 2004 for Mac is installed (any version)
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Verify merge cell feature usageThis vulnerability triggers when opening specially crafted Excel files with merge cell records - no manual feature check needed; the vulnerability is present if the affected version is runningAffected if Any of the affected versions (Excel 2002 or Office 2004 for Mac) are installed regardless of configuration
Environment is affected if Microsoft Excel 2002 (any SP level including SP3) or Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac is installed.
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 (MS10-017) to patch vulnerable Excel installations and enforce policies against opening untrusted Office documents.
Microsoft 365, Office 2019, or Office 2016 (supported versions)
- 1. Discontinue use of Microsoft Excel 2002 SP3 and Office 2004 for Mac as these versions are no longer supported and contain known vulnerabilities.
- 2. Obtain a currently supported version of Microsoft Office such as Microsoft 365, Office 2019, or Office 2016.
- 3. Install the newer Office version following Microsoft's installation guidance.
- 4. Ensure Windows Update or Microsoft AutoUpdate (for Mac) is enabled to receive future security patches.
- 5. Verify that all Excel documents are opened in the updated software version.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-3237 — 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-2010-3237 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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