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OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2013-3160

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-09-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 Office 2003 SP3 and 2007 SP3, Word 2003 SP3 and 2007 SP3, and Word Viewer allow remote attackers to read arbitrary files via an XML document containing an external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue, aka "XML External Entities Resolution 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 Office 2003/2007 and Word/Word Viewer contain an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability where parsing XML documents without disabling external entity processing allows attackers to read arbitrary files by crafting malicious XML with external entity declarations and entity references.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (KB2825645 for Office 2007, KB2825644 for Office 2003) and enforce Protected View for documents from untrusted sources to prevent exploitation.

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= 2007
WordApplication
Affected:= 2003= 2007
Word ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions

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
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
None
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

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
    Open any Office application (such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint), go to File > Account > About [App] and note the version year shown (2003 or 2007). Alternatively, open Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\InstallRoot for Office 2007, or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\InstallRoot for Office 2003.
    Affected if The product version shows 2003 or 2007.
  2. Check installed Microsoft Word version
    Launch Microsoft Word, click File > Account > About Word. The version number and year will be displayed in the title bar or about dialog. Alternatively, check Control Panel > Programs and Features for Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word entries showing version 2003 or 2007.
    Affected if Microsoft Word version 2003 or 2007 is installed.
  3. Check if Microsoft Word Viewer is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features and search for 'Microsoft Word Viewer' or 'Word Viewer'. This product was distributed as a standalone viewer and may appear with version indicators.
    Affected if Microsoft Word Viewer is listed in installed programs (any version).
  4. Identify if XML files are regularly opened
    Check whether users in the environment open XML documents using Word or Office applications. This includes .xml files directly, or documents that may contain embedded XML content such as older Office file formats (.doc, .xls) that Word parses upon opening.
    Affected if Users open untrusted XML documents with affected Word or Office versions.

A user is affected if they have Microsoft Office 2003, Office 2007, Word 2003, Word 2007, or any version of Word Viewer installed AND they open XML documents from untrusted sources, as the vulnerable XML external entity processing is enabled by default in these versions.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates (KB2825645 for Office 2007, KB2825644 for Office 2003) and enforce Protected View for documents from untrusted sources to prevent exploitation.

Fix this in Office Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2013-3160 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