CVE-2013-3158
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 · uneditedMicrosoft Excel 2003 SP3 and 2007 SP3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted Office document, aka "Microsoft Office Memory Corruption 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 confidenceA memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Excel 2003 SP3 and 2007 SP3 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service through specially crafted Office documents. The vulnerability exploits how Excel processes malformed data in documents, leading to heap corruption that can be leveraged for remote 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= 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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Check installed Microsoft Excel versionOpen Microsoft Excel, click Help menu, and select About Microsoft Excel. Note the version number displayed (e.g., 11.0 for Excel 2003, 12.0 for Excel 2007).Affected if The displayed version is 11.0 (Excel 2003) or 12.0 (Excel 2007)
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Verify Service Pack levelIn Excel, go to Help > About and check if Service Pack 3 is listed. Alternatively, check the registry key: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\version\Excel\InstallRoot\Version (where version is 11.0 or 12.0)Affected if Service Pack 3 is installed on Excel 2003 (11.0) or Excel 2007 (12.0)
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Confirm exact version build numberIn Excel About dialog, note the full build number (e.g., 11.0.xxxx for 2003, 12.0.xxxx for 2007). Compare this against Microsoft's published version lists for SP3.Affected if The build matches the specific Excel 2003 SP3 or Excel 2007 SP3 builds without subsequent security patches
You are affected if Microsoft Excel 2003 Service Pack 3 or Excel 2007 Service Pack 3 is installed without the MS13-051 security update applied.
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 this vulnerability (MS13-051) and instruct users to avoid opening Office documents from untrusted sources. Consider upgrading to supported Office versions as 2003/2007 are end-of-life.
Microsoft Office 2010 or later (e.g., Office 365 with current updates)
- Verify the current Microsoft Office/Excel version by opening Excel, clicking File, and selecting Account or Help
- Upgrade to a supported version of Microsoft Office (Office 2010 or later recommended) that includes the security update for this vulnerability
- Alternatively, if remaining on older Office versions is required, apply the relevant Microsoft security update from KB2837202 (for Excel 2003) or KB2827324 (for Excel 2007) if still available through Microsoft Update
- Ensure Microsoft Update is enabled and run a check for updates to receive the latest security patches
- After patching, verify the update was applied successfully via Windows Update history
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-3158 — 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-2013-3158 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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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.
- 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