CVE-2011-1270
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 · uneditedBuffer overflow in Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 SP3 and 2003 SP3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted PowerPoint document, aka "Presentation Buffer Overrun RCE 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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 SP3 and 2003 SP3 allows remote code execution when users open specially crafted PowerPoint files. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of malformed PowerPoint documents, enabling attackers to overwrite memory and execute arbitrary code.
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= 2003CVSS 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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Verify PowerPoint is installedOpen PowerPoint application, or check for PPT.EXE in typical Office installation paths (e.g., C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\ or Office11\)Affected if PowerPoint is not found on the system - no vulnerability present
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Identify the PowerPoint version numberIn PowerPoint, go to Help > About Microsoft PowerPoint, or right-click PPT.EXE in the installation folder and select Properties > Details to view the Product VersionAffected if Version shows 10.x (PowerPoint 2002) or 11.x (PowerPoint 2003)
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Confirm the Service Pack levelIn PowerPoint, go to Help > About Microsoft PowerPoint, or check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\version\PowerPoint\InstallRoot for Service Pack informationAffected if Service Pack 3 (SP3) is installed - this is the affected configuration
User is affected if PowerPoint 2002 SP3 or PowerPoint 2003 SP3 is installed and the system can open PowerPoint files, as this specific version and SP combination contains the buffer overflow vulnerability described in CVE-2011-1270
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 this vulnerability; avoid opening PowerPoint files from untrusted or unknown sources; keep PowerPoint updated to supported versions.
Microsoft Office 2007 or later (PowerPoint 2007 and newer) which are not affected by this vulnerability
- Open Microsoft Update or check for updates via Help > Check for Updates in PowerPoint
- Locate and install the security update associated with Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-036 (KB2545814 for PowerPoint 2002, KB2545815 for PowerPoint 2003)
- Restart PowerPoint after the update is installed
- Verify the update was installed by checking the installed updates via Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 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 $2,880.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-1270 — 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-2011-1270 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