WordApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2013-3892

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-10-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 Word 2007 SP3 and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Office document, aka "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 confidence

This is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2007 SP3 and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by tricking users into opening a specially crafted malicious Office document. The vulnerability exploits how Word handles malformed objects in documents, leading to heap-based buffer overflow conditions that can be leveraged for code execution.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (MS13-082 and related patches for this vulnerability) to all affected Word installations. Until patches are applied, instruct users not to open untrusted Office documents and consider disabling the opening of files from untrusted sources in Office Trust Center settings.

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
WordApplication
Affected:= 2007

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Microsoft Word 2007 is installed
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\InstallRoot, or check C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\ for winword.exe
    Affected if The registry key exists or winword.exe is found in the Office12 folder indicating Word 2007 is installed
  2. Check the installed Word 2007 version
    Right-click on winword.exe in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\, select Properties, and view the File Version on the Details tab
    Affected if The file version is 12.0.xxxx.xxxx corresponding to Word 2007 without the MS13-082 patch applied
  3. Verify the vulnerable wwlib.dll component version
    Navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\, right-click on wwlib.dll, select Properties, and check the File Version
    Affected if The wwlib.dll version matches an unpatched Word 2007 build (version 12.0.xxxx) and has not been updated via MS13-082
  4. Check if security update MS13-082 is installed
    Open Programs and Features, click 'View installed updates', or run: wmic qfe list | findstr "KB2878117" (the specific KB for this CVE)
    Affected if The KB2878117 update (or subsequent related patches for CVE-2013-3892) is NOT listed as installed

You are affected if Microsoft Word 2007 is installed and the KB2878117/MS13-082 security update has not been applied, leaving the wwlib.dll component at an unpatched version.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates (MS13-082 and related patches for this vulnerability) to all affected Word installations. Until patches are applied, instruct users not to open untrusted Office documents and consider disabling the opening of files from untrusted sources in Office Trust Center settings.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft Word 2007 SP3 with October 2013 security update (KB2827324) or upgrade to a later supported Office version such as Office 2010/2013/2016

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-086, specifically KB2827324 for Word 2007
  2. Download and install the update from Windows Update or the Microsoft Download Center
  3. Restart the computer after applying the update
  4. Verify the update was installed by checking the installed updates via Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates
Caveat Applying the patch to Word 2007 should not introduce breaking changes; however, ensure compatibility testing with existing documents and macros if upgrading to a newer Office version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Word Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2013-3892 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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