CVE-2015-1642
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 · uneditedMicrosoft Office 2007 SP3, 2010 SP2, and 2013 SP1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted document, aka "Microsoft Office 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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted document. Affected versions include Office 2007 SP3, 2010 SP2, and 2013 SP1.
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= 2007= 2010= 2013CVSS 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
- 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? 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Microsoft Office versionOpen any Office application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), go to File > Account > About [App]. Alternatively, right-click the executable (e.g., WINWORD.EXE for Word) in Program Files and view Properties > Details to see the version number.Affected if The version displayed is 12.0.x for Office 2007, 14.0.x for Office 2010, or 15.0.x for Office 2013.
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Confirm Service Pack level for Office 2007If Office 2007 (version 12.0.x) is installed, check the installed updates via Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, or run: 'powershell get-hotfix -description "ServicePack" | where {$_.HotFixID -eq "SP3"}'. The SP3 update must be present for this version to be affected.Affected if Office 2007 Service Pack 3 is installed (version 12.0.6xxx or higher).
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Confirm Service Pack level for Office 2010If Office 2010 (version 14.0.x) is installed, check via File > Account > About or run: 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\InstallRoot" /v Version' in Command Prompt. Service Pack 2 is required for this version to be affected.Affected if Office 2010 Service Pack 2 is installed (version 14.0.7xxx or higher).
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Confirm Service Pack level for Office 2013If Office 2013 (version 15.0.x) is installed, check via File > Account > About or run: 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\InstallRoot" /v Version'. Service Pack 1 is required for this version to be affected.Affected if Office 2013 Service Pack 1 is installed (version 15.0.xxxx.xxxx or higher).
Your environment is affected if Microsoft Office 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, or Office 2013 SP1 is installed and no security update from MS15-033 or later has been applied.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply Microsoft security update MS15-033 or later to address the vulnerability. Additionally, warn users against opening documents from untrusted sources and consider enabling Protected View in Office.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-1642 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-1642 in production — separate from our analysis above.
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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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.
- 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