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Office Compatibility PackApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2014-0258

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-01-15
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 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 confidence

Memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2003 SP3, 2007 SP3, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, and Word Viewer allows remote code execution via crafted malicious Office documents. The vulnerability exploits improper memory handling when parsing specially crafted Word files.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patches for this vulnerability, disable opening of files from untrusted sources, and enable Microsoft Office Protected View for documents from the internet.

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
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:all versions
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
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. Identify Microsoft Word version
    Open Word, go to File > Help, or check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\InstallRoot (11.0 = 2003, 12.0 = 2007)
    Affected if The installed version is Microsoft Word 2003 or Microsoft Word 2007 (any SP)
  2. Check for Office Compatibility Pack installation
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint file formats
    Affected if Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack is installed on the system
  3. Check for Word Viewer installation
    Look for Microsoft Word Viewer in Start Menu > All Programs, or check registry HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for entries containing Word Viewer
    Affected if Microsoft Word Viewer is installed on the system
  4. Verify security patch status
    Open Windows Update > View update history, or check for installed security updates containing KB2878023 (for Word 2003) or KB2878024 (for Word 2007)
    Affected if The relevant security patches for this CVE have not been installed

A user is affected if they have Microsoft Word 2003, Word 2007, Office Compatibility Pack, or Word Viewer installed AND the corresponding security patches (KB2878023 or KB2878024) are not installed.

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 patches for this vulnerability, disable opening of files from untrusted sources, and enable Microsoft Office Protected View for documents from the internet.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft 365, Office 2021, or Office 2019 (all supported versions with active security updates)

  1. 1. Verify the installed version of Microsoft Office by opening any Office application, clicking File > Account > About [App]
  2. 2. For Word 2003/2007 and Office Compatibility Pack: Check if your version is still supported by Microsoft. As of 2024, these versions are end-of-life and no longer receive security updates.
  3. 3. If running on Windows systems still receiving updates, ensure Windows Update is enabled and check for available Office security updates at windowsupdate.microsoft.com
  4. 4. If no updates are available (most likely for these EOL products), proceed with upgrading to a supported Office version.
  5. 5. For Word Viewer: This product is deprecated. Uninstall Word Viewer and install a supported version of Office or use Microsoft 365/Office 365 viewer features.
  6. 6. Backup important documents before making changes.
  7. 7. Upgrade to Microsoft 365, Office 2021, or a currently supported Office version to receive ongoing security patches.
Caveat Old Office file formats may render differently; macro settings defaults have changed; some legacy features deprecated

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

Fix this in Office Compatibility Pack Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,440
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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-2014-0258 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