CVE-2013-3851
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 Office 2003 SP3 and 2007 SP3, Word 2003 SP3 and 2007 SP3, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, and Word Viewer allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted Office document, aka "Word 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 · high confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service via specially crafted Office documents. The vulnerability affects Office 2003/2007 SP3, Word 2003/2007 SP3, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, and Word Viewer.
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 dataall versions= 2003= 2007all versionsCVSS 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 if Microsoft Word 2003 or 2007 is installedOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'appwiz.cpl', and look for Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word in the list. Check the version column for 2003 or 2007.Affected if Microsoft Word 2003 or Microsoft Word 2007 appears in the installed programs list.
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Check Word executable versionLocate WINWORD.EXE (typically in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11 for Word 2003, or Office12 for Word 2007). Right-click the file, select Properties, and view the Version tab to see the File Version.Affected if The file version shows 11.0.xxxx (Word 2003) or 12.0.xxxx (Word 2007).
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Check if Word Viewer is installedOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features and look for Microsoft Word Viewer. Alternatively, check for the existence of WordView.exe in the installation directory.Affected if Microsoft Word Viewer appears in installed programs or WordView.exe exists on the system.
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Check if Office Compatibility Pack is installedOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features and look for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats.Affected if Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack appears in the installed programs list.
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Verify Office version via registryRun 'regedit' and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word\InstallRoot (for Word) or check the version subkey under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office for installed Office products.Affected if The registry shows version 11.0 (Office 2003/Word 2003) or 12.0 (Office 2007/Word 2007) under the Office installation keys.
The system is affected if Microsoft Word 2003, Word 2007, Word Viewer, or Office Compatibility Pack is installed, regardless of version, as all versions of these products listed in the CVE are vulnerable.
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 (MS13-082) and avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Office documents. Enable Protected View in Microsoft Office as an additional defense layer.
Microsoft 365 (current) or Office 2016/2019 (perpetual license) - these versions are supported and receive regular security updates
- 1. Identify the current Microsoft Office version installed (Word 2003, Word 2007, Office Compatibility Pack, or Word Viewer)
- 2. For immediate patching: Check Microsoft Update or the Microsoft Catalog for security update MS13-086 (released October 2013) and apply it
- 3. Verify the patch was successfully installed by checking installed updates
- 4. For long-term solution: Migrate to a supported Office version such as Microsoft 365, Office 2019, or Office 2016 which receive ongoing security updates
- 5. Ensure Windows Update is enabled and configured to automatically deliver security patches
- 6. After upgrading, verify the Office application launches correctly and all features function normally
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-3851 — 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-2013-3851 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