CVE-2011-1980
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 · uneditedUntrusted search path vulnerability in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3 and 2007 SP2 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in the current working directory, as demonstrated by a directory that contains a .doc, .ppt, or .xls file, aka "Office Component Insecure Library Loading 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 confidenceUntrusted search path vulnerability in Microsoft Office allows DLL planting attacks. When a user opens a .doc, .ppt, or .xls file from a directory containing a malicious DLL, Office loads the Trojan horse library from the current working directory instead of secure system paths, enabling local privilege escalation.
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= 2003= 2007CVSS 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 versionOpen Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or check Program Files for Microsoft Office folders (Office11 = 2003, Office12 = 2007). Alternatively, run 'winword.exe /?' from the Office program directory to see the version in the window title or file properties.Affected if The installed version is Microsoft Office 2003 or Microsoft Office 2007 and MS11-073 has not been applied.
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Verify if MS11-073 security update is installedOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, or run 'wmic qfe list | findstr "MS11-073"' in Command Prompt. The update may also be listed as KB2553114 for Office 2007 or KB2553091 for Office 2003.Affected if The security update MS11-073 (or KB2553114/KB2553091) is NOT listed among installed updates.
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Check Office executable file versionRight-click winword.exe, excel.exe, or powerpnt.exe in the Microsoft Office program directory (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11 or Office12), select Properties, and examine the File Version field.Affected if The file version corresponds to an unpatched Office 2003 or 2007 release.
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Confirm safe DLL loading behaviorOpen a command prompt, change to a test directory containing a potentially suspicious DLL (such as a DLL with a common name like msvcr70.dll), and attempt to launch a Microsoft Office application from that directory using 'start winword.exe'. Monitor with Process Monitor (ProcMon) to observe DLL load behavior.Affected if Office applications load DLLs from the current working directory instead of only from secure system paths.
The environment is affected if Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 is installed and the MS11-073 security update has not been applied, allowing DLLs to be loaded from the directory where an Office document is opened.
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 CVE-2011-1980 to patch the insecure library loading. Ensure users do not open Office documents from untrusted or shared network locations to avoid triggering the vulnerable DLL search path.
Microsoft Office 2010 or Microsoft 365
- 1. Identify the current installed version of Microsoft Office (2003 SP3 or 2007 SP2)
- 2. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-023 (or subsequent relevant security updates) to address the insecure library loading vulnerability
- 3. After patching, verify the update was successfully installed via Office application (Help > About Microsoft Office)
- 4. Consider upgrading to a supported version of Microsoft Office (Office 2010 or newer) for long-term security support
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-1980 — 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-2011-1980 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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