CVE-2013-3853
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 2007 SP3 and Word 2007 SP3 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," a different vulnerability than CVE-2013-3854.
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 confidenceMicrosoft Office 2007 SP3 and Word 2007 SP3 contain a memory corruption vulnerability that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service through specially crafted Office documents. The vulnerability exploits how Word handles malformed documents, leading to memory corruption that can be leveraged for RCE.
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= 2007= 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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Verify Office 2007 installationOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for Microsoft Office 2007 or Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 in the installed programs list. Alternatively, open any Office application such as Word, go to Help > About Microsoft Office Word and check the displayed version information.Affected if Microsoft Office 2007 or Microsoft Word 2007 appears in installed programs or the About dialog shows version 12.x
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Check Word 2007 version numberOpen Word 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, click Word Options > Resources, then click About Microsoft Office Word 2007. Note the exact version number displayed (typically 12.0.x where x is the build number).Affected if Version begins with 12.0 indicating Office/Word 2007
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Confirm patch MS13-086 is not appliedOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, click View installed updates in the left pane, and search for security update KB2863902 (the patch for MS13-086). Alternatively, run 'wmic qfe list' from command prompt and look for KB2863902 in the output.Affected if KB2863902 is NOT listed in installed updates or wmic qfe list output
A system is affected if Microsoft Office 2007 or Word 2007 (version 12.0.x) is installed and security update KB2863902 for MS13-086 has not been 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 the relevant Microsoft security update (MS13-086) to patch the vulnerability. Additionally, configure Office Protected View or disable opening of files from untrusted sources to reduce attack surface until patching is complete.
Migrate to Microsoft 365, Office 2019, or newer supported version
- Check current Microsoft Office/Word version by opening Word, clicking File > Help, and verifying the version shows 2007 with SP3
- Apply Microsoft Security Update MS13-086 (released October 2013) which addresses CVE-2013-3853. Download from the Microsoft Update Catalog or use Windows Update
- Verify the patch installed successfully by checking Office version again and confirming no longer vulnerable
- Since Office 2007 reached end of support on April 10, 2017 and no longer receives security updates, plan migration to a supported Office version
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-2013-3853 — 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-2013-3853 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