CVE-2011-0979
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, 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2, and 2010; Office 2004, 2008, and 2011 for Mac; Open XML File Format Converter for Mac; and Excel Viewer SP2 do not properly handle errors during the parsing of Office Art records in Excel spreadsheets, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a malformed object record, related to a "stray reference," aka "Excel Linked List Corruption 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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Excel's parsing of Office Art records within spreadsheet files. Improper error handling leads to a 'stray reference' that corrupts linked list structures, allowing an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution by convincing a user to open a specially crafted Excel file.
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 dataall versions= 2002= 2003= 2007= 2010all versions= 2004= 2008= 2011= 2007all 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 Microsoft Office or Excel productsOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for Microsoft Office, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Excel Viewer, Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, or Microsoft Open Xml File Format Converter in the installed programs listAffected if Any of these products are listed without corresponding security update MS11-012 or later installed
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Determine the exact version of Microsoft ExcelLaunch Excel, click File > Help, and note the version shown (for example, Excel 2007, Excel 2010)Affected if The installed version is Excel 2002, 2003, 2007, or 2010 and MS11-012 is not installed
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Check if MS11-012 security update is installedOpen Windows Update, click View update history, and search for 'MS11-012' or 'KB2475792' in the installed updates listAffected if MS11-012 (KB2475792) or a later cumulative Office update is NOT shown as successfully installed
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Verify Microsoft Office version for non-Excel installationsOpen any Office application (Word, PowerPoint), go to File > Help, and note the version (for example, Office 2008 for Mac, Office 2011 for Mac, Office 2004 for Mac)Affected if The version is Office 2004, 2008, or 2011 and MS11-012 or subsequent update is not installed
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Check for Microsoft Excel Viewer installationOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, search for 'Excel Viewer' in the installed programs listAffected if Microsoft Excel Viewer is installed and the associated security updates are not applied
The environment is affected if any Microsoft Excel, Office, Excel Viewer, Compatibility Pack, or Open Xml File Format Converter product from the affected version ranges is installed WITHOUT security update MS11-012 or a subsequent cumulative Office update applied.
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 update MS11-012 (or subsequent cumulative updates) to all affected Microsoft Office/Excel installations, or disable Excel's file preview handlers and restrict opening of files from untrusted sources.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 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 $1,424.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-0979 — 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-2011-0979 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