CVE-2012-1887
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 · uneditedUse-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Excel 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2 and SP3, and 2010 SP1, and Office 2008 and 2011 for Mac, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted spreadsheet, aka "Excel SST Invalid Length Use After Free 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 confidenceUse-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Excel and Office for Mac that occurs during parsing of SST (Shared String Table) records in spreadsheet files. When processing a crafted spreadsheet with an invalid SST length, the application frees memory but later attempts to access that freed memory region, allowing arbitrary code execution.
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= 2007= 2010= 2008= 2011CVSS 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 Microsoft Excel version on WindowsOpen Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel, or run 'winword.exe /?' from command line, or check Add/Remove Programs for the installed versionAffected if Version is 2003, 2007, or 2010
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Identify Microsoft Office version on MacOpen any Office application, go to Excel/Word/PowerPoint menu > About Microsoft Excel/Word/PowerPoint, or check Applications folder for version infoAffected if Version is 2008 or 2011 (for Mac)
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Check if security update MS12-076 has been appliedOn Windows, open Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates and search for KB2726927 (Excel 2010), KB2687323 (Excel 2007), or KB2597086 (Excel 2003); on Mac, check for recent Office updates via Help > Check for UpdatesAffected if The specific KB update for the installed version is NOT installed (meaning the system is still vulnerable)
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Verify Excel file parsing functionality is activeConfirm Excel application can open .xls or .xlsx files - the vulnerability triggers during SST (Shared String Table) record parsing when opening spreadsheet filesAffected if Excel can open spreadsheet files and the version is unpatched (vulnerable versions listed above without corresponding KB update)
A user is affected if they are running Excel 2003, 2007, or 2010 on Windows or Office 2008/2011 on Mac AND the MS12-076 security update has not been applied, making them vulnerable when opening crafted spreadsheet files with invalid SST length.
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 (MS12-076) to patch affected Excel and Office installations; until patched, avoid opening spreadsheets from untrusted sources and disable macro execution.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-1887 — 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-2012-1887 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data