CVE-2010-3241
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, Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac, and Open XML File Format Converter for Mac do not properly validate binary file-format information, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Excel document, aka "Out-of-Bounds Memory Write in 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 confidenceMicrosoft Excel fails to properly validate binary file-format information during parsing, leading to an out-of-bounds memory write vulnerability. Attackers can exploit this by crafting malicious Excel documents that trigger the improper memory access, allowing arbitrary code execution on the target system.
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= 2004= 2008all 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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Identify installed Excel versionLocate the Excel executable on the system (commonly in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX\) and view its file properties to determine the version number, or open Excel and go to Help > About Microsoft ExcelAffected if The installed version is Microsoft Excel 2002 (typically shows version 10.x in the About dialog)
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Identify installed Microsoft Office versionCheck the Windows Registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\<version>\InstallRoot, or right-click any Office application exe (like WINWORD.EXE) and view its version propertyAffected if The installed Office suite version is 2004 (version 11.x) or 2008 (version 12.x)
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Check for Open XML File Format ConverterOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features and look for Microsoft Open Xml File Format Converter in the list, or search the Windows Registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for this program nameAffected if Microsoft Open Xml File Format Converter appears in installed programs (any version is affected)
You are affected if Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft Office 2004, Microsoft Office 2008, or the Microsoft Open Xml File Format Converter is installed on the system.
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 for affected Excel versions. Until patched, avoid opening Excel documents from untrusted sources and ensure endpoint protection is active.
Microsoft Office 2019 or Microsoft 365 (current supported versions)
- 1. Identify all systems with affected Microsoft Excel 2002 SP3, Office 2004 for Mac, Office 2008 for Mac, or Open XML File Format Converter for Mac installations.
- 2. Disconnect affected systems from the network or restrict access to untrusted Excel documents as an interim mitigation.
- 3. Upgrade to a currently supported Microsoft Office version (Microsoft 365, Office 2019, or latest supported Office for your platform).
- 4. Verify that the upgraded Office installation does not have the vulnerability by confirming the version includes security fixes post-MS10-080.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,960.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-3241 — 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-2010-3241 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