CVE-2013-3856
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 Word 2003 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 2003 SP3 and Word Viewer that can be exploited through maliciously crafted Office documents, potentially allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service.
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= 2003all 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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Verify if Microsoft Word 2003 is installedOpen Control Panel, go to Programs and Features (or Add or Remove Programs), and look for Microsoft Office Word 2003 in the installed programs listAffected if Microsoft Office Word 2003 appears in installed programs
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Check the exact Word version numberOpen Microsoft Word, click Help, then About Microsoft Office Word. The version displayed in the dialog indicates the installed version (for example, 11.0.xxxx indicates Word 2003)Affected if The version shown is 11.0.xxxx, which corresponds to Microsoft Word 2003
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Verify if Microsoft Word Viewer is installedOpen Control Panel, go to Programs and Features, and look for Microsoft Word Viewer in the installed programs listAffected if Microsoft Word Viewer appears in installed programs (any version)
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Confirm Word Viewer version if installedIf Word Viewer is installed, locate the program in the Start Menu, right-click, and select Properties to view the file version, or open Word Viewer and check Help > AboutAffected if Any version of Microsoft Word Viewer is found (all versions are affected)
If Microsoft Word 2003 or any version of Microsoft Word Viewer is installed on the system, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.
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.
From vendor dataApply the relevant Microsoft security update for this vulnerability or upgrade to a supported version of Microsoft Word; avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Office documents from unknown sources.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,392.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-3856 — 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-2013-3856 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