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Office Compatibility PackApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2014-6333

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-11-11
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, Word Viewer, and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Office document, aka "Microsoft Office Double Delete Remote Code Execution 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 · moderate confidence

A memory corruption vulnerability (specifically a 'double delete' flaw) in Microsoft Word 2007 SP3, Word Viewer, and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by tricking users into opening a specially crafted Office document.

MitigationApply the relevant Microsoft security update (MS14-081), disable automatic document opening in Office Trust Center settings, and train users to avoid opening documents from untrusted sources.

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
Office Word ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions
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. Identify installed Microsoft Office applications
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for Microsoft Office entries in the installed software list
    Affected if Microsoft Office Word 2007, Word Viewer, or Office Compatibility Pack appears in the installed programs list
  2. Check Word 2007 version and Service Pack level
    Open Word, go to File > Help, locate the version information under 'About Microsoft Office Word' or check registry key HKLM\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\InstallRoot for the version path
    Affected if Version shows 'Microsoft Office Word 2007' with Service Pack 3 (SP3) installed
  3. Verify Word Viewer installation
    Check registry key HKLM\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\WORDPAD.EXE or look for 'Microsoft Office Word Viewer' in Add/Remove Programs
    Affected if Word Viewer is listed as installed software
  4. Confirm Office Compatibility Pack presence
    Check registry key HKLM\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Compatibility Pack or look for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack' in installed programs
    Affected if Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats is installed
  5. Check Office Trust Center macro settings
    Open Word > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings, note whether macros are enabled or disabled for this application
    Affected if Macro execution settings are set to 'Enable all macros' or 'Disable all macros with notification' (the vulnerability triggers via document opening, not macro execution directly, but restrictive settings may limit attack surface)
  6. Review installed Office updates
    Open Windows Update history or check Add/Remove Programs for installed Microsoft security updates, look for KB3000431 or MS14-081 references
    Affected if Security update MS14-081 (KB3000431) is NOT installed on the system

Your environment is affected if Microsoft Word 2007, Word Viewer, or Office Compatibility Pack is installed and the MS14-081 security update has not been applied.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the relevant Microsoft security update (MS14-081), disable automatic document opening in Office Trust Center settings, and train users to avoid opening documents from untrusted sources.

Fix this in Office Compatibility Pack Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2014-6333 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