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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 22 Jun 2022.
OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2013-1331

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2013-06-12
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
Buffer overflow in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3 and Office 2011 for Mac allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted PNG data in an Office document, leading to improper memory allocation, aka "Office Buffer Overflow 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 · moderate confidence

Buffer overflow vulnerability in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3 and Office 2011 for Mac allows remote code execution via crafted PNG data embedded in Office documents. The vulnerability stems from improper memory allocation when parsing malicious PNG images, enabling attackers to overwrite memory and execute arbitrary code.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (MS13-025) for affected Office versions; if patches unavailable for unsupported software, upgrade to supported Office versions or implement compensating controls such as disabling OLE embedding and restricting document sources.

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
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2003= 2011

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. Check installed Microsoft Office version on Windows
    Open a command prompt and run: reg query 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\InstallRoot' /v ProductVersion (for Office 2003). Or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003.
    Affected if Version shows Microsoft Office 2003 without having applied MS13-025 security update
  2. Check installed Microsoft Office for Mac version
    Open Finder, go to Applications folder, right-click Microsoft Office app (Word/Excel/PowerPoint), select Get Info, and check the Version field.
    Affected if Version shows 14.x (Office 2011 for Mac) without security update applied
  3. Verify if MS13-025 security update is installed
    On Windows, check Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, search for 'MS13-025'. On Mac, check if Software Update has installed the security update.
    Affected if MS13-025 update is NOT installed on the system
  4. Check if Office documents with embedded images are being processed
    Inspect recent Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents for embedded PNG image files, or monitor process activity of WINWORD.EXE, EXCEL.EXE, or POWERPNT.EXE handling documents.
    Affected if Office is regularly opening documents from untrusted sources containing PNG images
  5. Confirm Office 2003 Service Pack 3 is running
    In Office 2003, go to Help > About Microsoft Office Word and verify the build number includes SP3 (11.0.8404 or higher).
    Affected if Office 2003 is at SP2 or earlier, or SP3 is not confirmed installed

A system is affected if it runs Microsoft Office 2003 (any SP) or Office 2011 for Mac AND the MS13-025 security update has not been applied, AND the system opens Office documents containing crafted PNG images.

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 updates (MS13-025) for affected Office versions; if patches unavailable for unsupported software, upgrade to supported Office versions or implement compensating controls such as disabling OLE embedding and restricting document sources.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Microsoft Office 2016/2019/365 or latest Office for Mac (migrate to currently supported version)

  1. Both Microsoft Office 2003 and Office 2011 for Mac have reached end of support and no longer receive security updates.
  2. If running these products, migrate to a currently supported Microsoft Office version (Office 2016/2019/365) or the latest Office for Mac.
  3. For legacy document compatibility needs, consider using alternative document viewers or running the old Office in an isolated virtual machine with restricted network access.
  4. Review CISA guidance on legacy product security at www.cisa.gov for general recommendations on managing unsupported software.
Caveat Office 2003/2011 are end-of-life; migrating to newer Office versions may require file format conversion and feature adjustments

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

Fix this in Office Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2013-1331 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