dbcve.org
Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 18 Apr 2022.
Office Compatibility PackApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2012-2539

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2012-12-12
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS 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
Microsoft Word 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2 and SP3, and 2010 SP1; Word Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack SP2 and SP3; and Office Web Apps 2010 SP1 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via crafted RTF data, aka "Word RTF 'listoverridecount' Remote Code Execution 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

Microsoft Word contains a memory corruption vulnerability when parsing RTF files with a malformed 'listoverridecount' field. Attackers can exploit this by tricking users into opening specially crafted RTF files, potentially achieving remote code execution with the user's privileges.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patches KB2687324 and KB2553001 (or subsequent cumulative updates) to all affected Word installations. As a workaround, disable RTF file handling in Microsoft Word or use the Microsoft Fixit solution, and educate users to avoid opening untrusted RTF attachments.

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
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:all versions
Office Web AppsApplication
Affected:= 2010
Office Word ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions
Sharepoint ServerApplication
Affected:= 2010
WordApplication
Affected:= 2003= 2007= 2010

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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. Identify installed Microsoft Word version
    Open Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or run 'winword /?' from command prompt to display version information
    Affected if Version is 2003, 2007, or 2010 (or falls within any version range that includes these)
  2. Check if Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint' in the installed programs list
    Affected if Compatibility Pack is installed (any version)
  3. Check if Microsoft Word Viewer is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for 'Microsoft Word Viewer' in the installed programs list
    Affected if Word Viewer is installed (any version)
  4. Verify if security patches KB2687324 or KB2553001 are installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, or run 'wmic qfe list' from command prompt to list installed hotfixes. Search for KB2687324 and KB2553001 in the output
    Affected if Neither KB2687324 nor KB2553001 (nor subsequent cumulative updates containing these fixes) are installed
  5. Confirm RTF file handling is enabled in Word
    Open Word, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > File Block Settings. Verify that 'RTF Files' is not set to 'Open in Protected View' or 'Blocked'
    Affected if RTF file handling is enabled (not blocked or restricted) and the user has a vulnerable Word version without the patch

The environment is affected if any vulnerable Microsoft Word version (2003, 2007, 2010), Word Viewer, or Office Compatibility Pack is installed AND the security patches KB2687324/KB2553001 are not applied AND RTF file handling is not disabled.

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 Microsoft security patches KB2687324 and KB2553001 (or subsequent cumulative updates) to all affected Word installations. As a workaround, disable RTF file handling in Microsoft Word or use the Microsoft Fixit solution, and educate users to avoid opening untrusted RTF attachments.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Microsoft Office 2016 or Microsoft 365 (supported versions) for long-term security support

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS12-064 (or corresponding patch for CVE-2012-2539)
  2. For Microsoft Word 2003: Install security update KB2596879
  3. For Microsoft Word 2007: Install security update KB2596879
  4. For Microsoft Word 2010: Install security update KB2598230
  5. For Office Compatibility Pack: Install security update KB2596879
  6. For Office Web Apps 2010: Install security update KB2598230
  7. For SharePoint Server 2010: Install security update KB2598230
  8. For Word Viewer: Install security update KB2596879
Caveat Older Office versions (2003, 2007, 2010) are no longer supported by Microsoft; ensure compatibility with existing workflows before upgrading to newer Office versions

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

Fix this in Office Compatibility Pack Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-2539 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2012-2539 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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