dbcve.org
ExcelApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2015-2376

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-07-14
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
Microsoft Excel 2007 SP3, Excel 2010 SP2, Excel 2013 SP1, Excel 2013 RT SP1, Office for Mac 2011, Excel Viewer 2007 SP3, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Excel Services on SharePoint Server 2007 SP3, Excel Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2, and Excel Services on SharePoint Server 2013 SP1 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted Office 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 confidence

A memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Excel and related Office products allows remote code execution when parsing specially crafted Office documents. The vulnerability stems from improper memory handling when processing malformed document data, enabling an attacker to overwrite memory and execute arbitrary code.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patches for CVE-2015-2376 to all affected Excel versions and Excel Services installations. Until patches are applied, exercise caution with untrusted Office documents and consider deploying additional document sanitization or email filtering controls.

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
ExcelApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010= 2013
Excel ViewerApplication
Affected:= 2007
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2011
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:all versions
Sharepoint DesignerApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010= 2013

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 Microsoft Excel version
    Open Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel, or click Help > About Microsoft Excel. Alternatively, check the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\[version]\Excel\InstallRoot
    Affected if The installed version is 2007, 2010, or 2013 (any subversion within these major versions)
  2. Check Microsoft Excel Viewer version
    Open Excel Viewer, then go to Help > About Microsoft Excel Viewer, or check Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel for the installed version
    Affected if Excel Viewer 2007 is installed (any build)
  3. Check Microsoft Office installation version
    Open any Office application (such as Word or PowerPoint), go to File > Account > About, or check the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\[version]\Common\InstallRoot
    Affected if Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac is installed
  4. Check Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack version
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint' and note the version, or check registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\CompatibilityPack\InstalledVersion
    Affected if Any version of Office Compatibility Pack is installed (all versions are affected)
  5. Check Microsoft Sharepoint Designer version
    Open Sharepoint Designer, go to Help > About Microsoft Sharepoint Designer, or check Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel
    Affected if Sharepoint Designer 2007, 2010, or 2013 is installed

If any of the affected Excel, Excel Viewer, Office 2011, Office Compatibility Pack, or Sharepoint Designer versions listed above are installed and the relevant Microsoft security patch for CVE-2015-2376 has not been applied, the environment is vulnerable.

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

Apply Microsoft security patches for CVE-2015-2376 to all affected Excel versions and Excel Services installations. Until patches are applied, exercise caution with untrusted Office documents and consider deploying additional document sanitization or email filtering controls.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS15-070 patches (or migrate to newer supported Office versions such as Office 365 with current updates)

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS15-070, which addresses this vulnerability (Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability)
  2. For Excel 2007: Install the update from Microsoft Update or download the specific patch for Excel 2007 SP3
  3. For Excel 2010: Install the update from Microsoft Update or download the specific patch for Excel 2010 SP2
  4. For Excel 2013: Install the update from Microsoft Update or download the specific patch for Excel 2013 SP1
  5. For Excel Viewer 2007: Install the update from Microsoft Update or download the specific patch for Excel Viewer 2007 SP3
  6. For Office Compatibility Pack: Install the update from Microsoft Update or download the specific patch for Office Compatibility Pack SP3
  7. For SharePoint Designer 2007/2010/2013: Install the corresponding SharePoint Designer updates from Microsoft Update
  8. After applying updates, verify the installed version includes the security fix by checking installed updates via Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates
Caveat Standard patching carries minimal risk; ensure backups of critical documents exist before major update cycles; some legacy functionality may be deprecated in newer Office versions

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

Fix this in Excel Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-2376 — 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 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-2015-2376 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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