OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2014-1761

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2014-03-25

Patch available

A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.

See remediation →

97/100

Remediation priority · Urgent

In the wild High EPSS No privileges Patch available

Official description

NVD · unedited

Microsoft Word 2003 SP3, 2007 SP3, 2010 SP1 and SP2, 2013, and 2013 RT; Word Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack SP3; Office for Mac 2011; Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP1 and SP2 and 2013; Office Web Apps 2010 SP1 and SP2; and Office Web Apps Server 2013 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via crafted RTF data, as exploited in the wild in March 2014.

Technical summary

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word's RTF parsing functionality allows remote code execution via crafted RTF files. The flaw exists in how Word handles malformed RTF content, leading to heap corruption that can be leveraged for arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (MS14-017) to all affected Microsoft Office products, SharePoint Server installations, and Office Web Apps servers. Disable RTF file handling in Word as an interim workaround if patches cannot be applied immediately.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions

NVD · CPE data

OfficeApplication

Affected:= 2011

Office Compatibility PackApplication

Affected:all versions

Office Web AppsApplication

Affected:= 2010

Office Web Apps ServerApplication

Affected:= 2013

Sharepoint ServerApplication

Affected:= 2010= 2013

WordApplication

Affected:= 2003= 2007= 2010= 2013

Word ViewerApplication

Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown

From the vector

Attack vector: Local
Complexity: Low
Privileges: None
User interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected?

dbcve checks

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

Identify Microsoft Word version

Open Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or run 'winword /?' from command prompt to display version information

Affected if Version is 2003, 2007, 2010, or 2013
Check for Microsoft Office installation and version

Open any Office application, go to File > Account > About [App], or check Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel for Microsoft Office entries

Affected if Office version is 2011, or any version with affected Word components
Identify Microsoft Word Viewer version

Check Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Word Viewer' entry and note the installed version

Affected if Word Viewer is installed (all versions affected)
Check Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack

Check Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint'

Affected if Compatibility Pack is installed (all versions affected)
Verify RTF file handling is enabled

In Word, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > File Block Settings and check if RTF files are set to allow opening

Affected if RTF files are not blocked - the vulnerability requires Word to parse RTF content

If any affected Word version (2003, 2007, 2010, 2013), Word Viewer, Office Compatibility Pack, or related Office/SharePoint components are installed and RTF handling is enabled, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2014-1761.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Remediation

dbcve · scoped

Patch available Apply the vendor patch

Vendor patch technet.microsoft.com →

Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates (MS14-017) to all affected Microsoft Office products, SharePoint Server installations, and Office Web Apps servers. Disable RTF file handling in Word as an interim workaround if patches cannot be applied immediately.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS14-017 (April 2014 updates) - specific patched versions depend on product: Word 2003 SP3 with KB2878304, Word 2007 SP3 with KB2878305, Word 2010 SP1/SP2 with KB2878305, Word 2013 with KB2878284, or migrate to newer supported Office versions such as Office 2016/201

Identify the specific Microsoft Office product and version currently installed from the affected list (Office 2011, Office Compatibility Pack, Office Web Apps 2010, Office Web Apps Server 2013, SharePoint Server 2010/2013, Word 2003/2007/2010/2013, or Word Viewer)
Apply the Microsoft security update released in April 2014 for this CVE. For Word desktop applications, install the appropriate patch for your version (KB2878304 for Word 2003, KB2878305 for Word 2007 and Word 2010, KB2878284 for Word 2013)
For SharePoint Server and Office Web Apps installations, apply the corresponding server-side patches (KB2878284)
Verify the update was successfully installed by checking the installed updates via Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates
Restart affected services or servers as required by the update

Caveat This is a security patch with no expected breaking changes; however, ensure compatibility testing is performed on mission-critical documents and workflows before deployment in production environments

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

Fix this in Office Exploited in the wild — priority engagement

Consultation2.0 h
Implementation4.0 h
Testing2.0 h
Review / QA1.0 h

9.0 hours of engineering $1,600

Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally

dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-1761 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References

Primary sources

technet.microsoft.comPatch / commit
technet.microsoft.comPatchVendor Advisory
docs.microsoft.comPatchVendor Advisory
www.cisa.govUS Government Resource
nvd.nist.govNVD record

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-1761 in production — separate from our analysis above.

Notes0 Guidelines

Know something about CVE-2014-1761?

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

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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

At a glance

Exploited in the wildOn CISA’s known-exploited list · agencies must fix by 2022-08-15

A fix existsA vendor remedy is published

Severity 7.8 High

Exploit likelihood EPSS, next 30 days 77.5%

Affects: Office

Remediation

Being exploited — close it fast

Fix this in Office 9 hrs · Low

Typical engagement from $1,600

Get it fixed fast See the full breakdown ↓

This CVE is on CISA’s actively-exploited list, so the clock is real — a vetted specialist can deliver a reviewed fix for your staging environment quickly.

You’ll deal with our team directly and deploy the reviewed fix to staging first — never straight to production.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Check your environment

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.

Scan for this in your stack

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Practitioner notes

No notes yet

Official description

Technical summary

Affected products & versions

CVSS breakdown

Am I affected?

Remediation

References