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Office Compatibility PackApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2015-1651

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-04-14
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
Use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2007 SP3, Word Viewer, and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Office document, aka "Microsoft Office Component Use After Free 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

Use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2007 SP3, Word Viewer, and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted malicious Office documents.

MitigationDeploy Microsoft security update MS15-033 to all affected systems, or upgrade to patched versions of Microsoft Office. Implement email/web filtering to block suspicious Office attachments.

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:= 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. Check if Microsoft Word 2007 is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for 'Microsoft Office Word 2007' in the installed programs list, or run 'wmic product where "name like 'Microsoft Office Word%'" get name,version'
    Affected if Microsoft Word 2007 appears in installed programs
  2. Confirm the specific Word 2007 version
    Launch Word 2007, go to File > Help, and verify the version shows '2007' and Service Pack 3 is installed. Alternatively, check the version in the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\InstallRoot
    Affected if Version shows Microsoft Word 2007 (build 12.x) - other versions like 2010, 2013, or 2016 are NOT affected by this specific CVE
  3. Check if Word Viewer is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features and look for 'Microsoft Word Viewer', or check for the presence of the file 'WordViewer.exe' in the Office program folders (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\)
    Affected if Word Viewer is present (any version is affected)
  4. Check if Office Compatibility Pack is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features and look for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint', or check the registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\CompatibilityPack\Install
    Affected if Office Compatibility Pack is present (all versions are affected)

A system is affected if it has Microsoft Word 2007 (specifically version 12.x), any version of Word Viewer, or any version of Office Compatibility Pack installed, and opens malicious crafted Office documents.

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

Deploy Microsoft security update MS15-033 to all affected systems, or upgrade to patched versions of Microsoft Office. Implement email/web filtering to block suspicious Office attachments.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to Microsoft 365, Office 2016, or later supported versions; for legacy users, apply KB2956073 security update

  1. Identify the Microsoft Office installation by going to File > Account > About [App] in any Office application
  2. For Word 2007: Install Microsoft Security Update KB2956073 (released April 14, 2015) from the Microsoft Update Catalog or through Windows Update
  3. For Word Viewer: Install Microsoft Security Update KB2956073 from the Microsoft Update Catalog
  4. For Office Compatibility Pack: Install Microsoft Security Update KB2956073 from the Microsoft Update Catalog
  5. After patching, verify the update was applied by checking installed updates via Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates
  6. Alternatively, upgrade to a supported Microsoft 365 subscription or Office 2016/2019/2021 for continuous security support
Caveat Office 2007 reached end of support in 2017; upgrading to newer Office versions may require license purchase and has UI/workflow changes

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

Fix this in Office Compatibility Pack Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,000
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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-2015-1651 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