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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 24 Mar 2022.
Commerce ServerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2012-1856

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2012-08-15
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Remotely reachable No privileges Patch available

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 · unedited
The TabStrip ActiveX control in the Common Controls in MSCOMCTL.OCX in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3, Office 2003 Web Components SP3, Office 2007 SP2 and SP3, Office 2010 SP1, SQL Server 2000 SP4, SQL Server 2005 SP4, SQL Server 2008 SP2, SP3, R2, R2 SP1, and R2 SP2, Commerce Server 2002 SP4, Commerce Server 2007 SP2, Commerce Server 2009 Gold and R2, Host Integration Server 2004 SP1, Visual FoxPro 8.0 SP1, Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2, and Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted (1) document or (2) web page that triggers system-state corruption, aka "MSCOMCTL.OCX 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 confidence

CVE-2012-1856 is a remote code execution vulnerability in the TabStrip ActiveX control within MSCOMCTL.OCX (Microsoft Common Controls). Attackers can exploit this by tricking users into opening malicious documents or visiting crafted web pages, which triggers system-state corruption and allows arbitrary code execution. This affects numerous Microsoft products including Office versions, SQL Server, Commerce Server, and legacy development tools.

MitigationApply the relevant Microsoft security updates (MS12-060) to all affected systems. For legacy systems no longer receiving patches (VB6.0, Visual FoxPro), disable the ActiveX control via killbit or deploy compensating controls such as restricting Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration and blocking MSCOMCTL.OCX at the application/enterprise level.

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
Commerce ServerApplication
Affected:= 2002= 2007= 2009
Host Integration ServerApplication
Affected:= 2004
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2003= 2007= 2010
Office Web ComponentsApplication
Affected:= 2003
Sql ServerApplication
Affected:= 2000= 2005= 2008
Visual BasicApplication
Affected:= 6.0
Visual FoxproApplication
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0

CVSS 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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate the vulnerable MSCOMCTL.OCX file
    Check for the presence of MSCOMCTL.OCX in the System32 folder (32-bit: C:\Windows\System32\MSCOMCTL.OCX; 64-bit: also check C:\Windows\SysWOW64\MSCOMCTL.OCX) using File Explorer or the command: dir C:\Windows\System32\MSCOMCTL.OCX
    Affected if The file exists on the system (vulnerable version may be present)
  2. Check MSCOMCTL.OCX file version
    Right-click the MSCOMCTL.OCX file, select Properties, then the Details tab to view the File Version; alternatively use PowerShell: (Get-Item 'C:\Windows\System32\MSCOMCTL.OCX').VersionInfo
    Affected if Internet Explorer or other browsers have ActiveX controls enabled and the site/document zone allows ActiveX execution, allowing the vulnerability to be triggered

The system is affected if MSCOMCTL.OCX is present AND the TabStrip ActiveX control is registered without a kill-bit, meaning the control can be invoked via embedded content in documents or web pages

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch docs.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the relevant Microsoft security updates (MS12-060) to all affected systems. For legacy systems no longer receiving patches (VB6.0, Visual FoxPro), disable the ActiveX control via killbit or deploy compensating controls such as restricting Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration and blocking MSCOMCTL.OCX at the application/enterprise level.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apply MS12-060 security update; for long-term remediation, upgrade to supported product versions (e.g., Office 2016+, SQL Server 2016+, Windows Server 2016+)

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Update MS12-060 (KB2718523), which addresses the MSCOMCTL.OCX vulnerability in the Common Controls ActiveX control. This update is available via Windows Update or the Microsoft Download Center.
  2. Verify the patch has been applied by checking that MSCOMCTL.OCX version is 6.1.98.34 or later, or by confirming the security update appears in the installed updates list.
  3. For systems running unsupported products (VB 6.0, SQL Server 2000/2005/2008, Office 2003, Visual FoxPro 8.0/9.0), prioritize migration to supported versions as extended support has ended.
  4. Enable the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) as an additional mitigation if immediate patching is not possible.
  5. Consider disabling ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer as a temporary workaround via Internet Options > Security > Custom Level > ActiveX controls.
Caveat Some legacy applications depending on older MSCOMCTL.OCX functionality may require testing after patch deployment; unsupported products will not receive future security updates

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Commerce Server Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-1856 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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