OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2015-1641

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2015-04-14

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 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Word for Mac 2011, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2 and 2013 SP1, and Office Web Apps Server 2010 SP2 and 2013 SP1 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted RTF document, aka "Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability."

Technical summary

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word and related Office products allowing remote code execution through specially crafted RTF documents. The vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild, requiring only that a victim open a malicious RTF file to trigger arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply Microsoft security bulletin MS15-033 patches for all affected Office products, or as a temporary workaround disable RTF file handling in Microsoft Word via registry modification or Group Policy.

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:= 2010

Office Compatibility PackApplication

Affected:all versions

Office Web AppsApplication

Affected:= 2010= 2013

OutlookApplication

Affected:= 2011

Sharepoint ServerApplication

Affected:= 2010= 2013

WordApplication

Affected:= 2007= 2010= 2011= 2013

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 installed Microsoft Office products

Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'wmic product get name,version' to list installed Microsoft Office-related software including Word, Outlook, SharePoint Server, and Office Web Apps.

Affected if Any of the following products appear: Microsoft Office 2010, Office Compatibility Pack (any version), Office Web Apps 2010 or 2013, Outlook 2011, SharePoint Server 2010 or 2013, Word 2007, 2010, 2011, or 2013.
Check Word version number

Open Microsoft Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or right-click WINWORD.EXE and select Properties > Details to view the exact version and build number.

Affected if The version shown is 2007, 2010, 2011, or 2013 (any build within these major versions).
Verify RTF file handling is enabled

RTF handling is enabled by default. To check, attempt to open a .rtf file in Word, or examine if the Word application processes RTF content without restrictions. No registry or configuration change should be needed for the vulnerability to apply.

Affected if RTF files can be opened directly in Word without any blocking or security warnings (default behavior).
Check Office Compatibility Pack version

Open Word (if installed via Compatibility Pack), check version via File > Account > About Word, or check installed programs for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint'.

Affected if The Compatibility Pack is installed (any version).
Confirm SharePoint or Outlook installation if present

Check installed programs for 'Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or 2013', or 'Microsoft Outlook 2011'. Use 'wmic product where "name like '%SharePoint%'" get name,version'.

Affected if SharePoint Server 2010 or 2013, or Outlook 2011 is installed.

You are affected if any of the listed Office products (Word 2007/2010/2011/2013, Office 2010, Office Compatibility Pack, Office Web Apps 2010/2013, Outlook 2011, SharePoint Server 2010/2013) are installed and RTF file handling is in its default enabled state.

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

Remediation

dbcve · scoped

Patch available Apply the vendor patch

Vendor patch docs.microsoft.com →

Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security bulletin MS15-033 patches for all affected Office products, or as a temporary workaround disable RTF file handling in Microsoft Word via registry modification or Group Policy.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apply Microsoft Security Update MS15-033 (April 2015) which contains all necessary patches for this vulnerability

Locate the Microsoft security bulletin MS15-033 (April 2015) which addresses CVE-2015-1641
Identify the specific affected Microsoft product and version from the list (Word 2007 SP3, Word 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, etc.)
Download and apply the corresponding KB update from MS15-033: For Word 2007 apply KB2553073, for Word 2010 apply KB2553065, for Word 2013 apply KB2553070
For Office Compatibility Pack (SP3) apply KB2553074
For SharePoint Server 2010 (Word Automation Services) apply KB3039748
For SharePoint Server 2013 (Word Automation Services) apply KB3039746
For Office Web Apps Server 2013 apply KB3039739
For Office Web Apps 2010 apply KB3039755

Caveat Standard security update with no expected breaking changes; applies to affected Microsoft Office products

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

Fix this in Office Exploited in the wild — priority engagement

Consultation4.0 h
Implementation8.0 h
Testing4.0 h
Review / QA2.0 h

18.0 hours of engineering $3,200

Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally

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References

Primary sources

docs.microsoft.comPatch / commit
docs.microsoft.comPatchVendor Advisory
www.securityfocus.comBroken LinkThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
www.securitytracker.comBroken LinkThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
www.cisa.govUS Government Resource
nvd.nist.govNVD record

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-1641 in production — separate from our analysis above.

Notes0 Guidelines

Know something about CVE-2015-1641?

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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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 2022-05-03

A fix existsA vendor remedy is published

Severity 7.8 High

Exploit likelihood EPSS, next 30 days 92.9%

Affects: Office

Remediation

Being exploited — close it fast

Fix this in Office 18 hrs · Moderate

Typical engagement from $3,200

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