CVE-2011-0104
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 2003 SP3, Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac, and Open XML File Format Converter for Mac allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted HLink record in an Excel file, aka "Excel Buffer Overwrite 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 buffer overflow vulnerability exists in Microsoft Excel's parsing of HLink records within crafted .xls files. An attacker can exploit this by enticing a user to open a specially malicious Excel file, potentially allowing arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the targeted user.
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= 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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Check Microsoft Excel versionOpen Excel, go to Help > About Microsoft Excel, or use the file properties of any Excel executable. On Windows, also check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\version\Excel\InstallRoot in the registry.Affected if The version is 2002 (version 10) or 2003 (version 11)
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Check Microsoft Office versionOpen any Office application, go to Help > About, or check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\version\Common\InstallRoot in the registry.Affected if The version is 2004 (version 11) or 2008 (version 12) for Mac, or if Excel 2002/2003 is bundled as part of an Office suite
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Check Microsoft Open Xml File Format Converter versionOn Mac, check the application in /Applications/Microsoft Open XML Converter.app or check the app info. On Windows, check the installed version via Add/Remove Programs or the program files directory.Affected if Any version of Open Xml File Format Converter is installed (all versions are affected)
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Verify HLink feature exposureThis vulnerability is triggered when parsing HLink records in .xls files. The affected component is the Excel file parser, which is always active when opening .xls files. No specific feature toggle exists.Affected if The user can open .xls files with the installed Excel application (the vulnerable code path is exercised for any .xls file)
A user is affected if they have Excel 2002, Excel 2003, Office 2004/2008 (Mac), or any version of Open Xml File Format Converter installed, and they open untrusted .xls files.
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.
From vendor dataApply Microsoft security updates (MS11-009) to all affected Excel and Office installations. Until patched, exercise caution with Excel files from untrusted sources and disable macro execution.
- 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-2011-0104 — 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-2011-0104 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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