dbcve.org
ExcelApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2015-2377

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, and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 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 · moderate confidence

This is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Excel that allows remote code execution through specially crafted Office documents. When Excel parses a malformed .xlsx or similar Office file, it fails to properly handle memory operations, enabling an attacker to inject and execute arbitrary code on the victim's machine.

MitigationApply Microsoft security update MS15-070 to all affected Excel installations. Additionally, configure Protected View for Office and warn users not to open 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
ExcelApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010= 2013
Office Compatibility PackApplication
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. Confirm Microsoft Excel installation
    Open Excel and go to File > Account > About Excel, or check Add/Remove Programs in Windows Control Panel for Microsoft Excel
    Affected if Excel is not installed on the system, the vulnerability does not apply
  2. Identify installed Excel version
    In Excel, click File > Account > About Excel and note the version number; affected versions are 2007, 2010, and 2013
    Affected if The installed version matches 2007, 2010, or 2013 (or falls within these version ranges)
  3. Determine if untrusted Office documents are processed
    Review user behavior or system configuration to see if .xlsx, .xls, or other Office files from email, web downloads, or external sources are routinely opened without prior validation
    Affected if Users regularly open Office documents from untrusted or unknown sources
  4. Check Protected View status
    In Excel, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Protected View; verify whether Protected View is enabled for all document sources (Internet, Email, potentially unsafe locations)
    Affected if Protected View is disabled and users open untrusted documents without other security filtering

A system is affected if it runs Excel 2007, 2010, or 2013 and processes untrusted Office documents with Protected View disabled, allowing the malformed .xlsx file to be parsed by Excel.

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 update MS15-070 to all affected Excel installations. Additionally, configure Protected View for Office and warn users not to open documents from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Move to Microsoft Office 2016 or Microsoft Office 365, which include ongoing security support for this and subsequent vulnerabilities

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS15-070, which addresses this vulnerability (CVE-2015-2377)
  2. For Excel 2007 SP3: Install security update KB3054992
  3. For Excel 2010 SP2: Install security update KB3054993
  4. For Excel 2013 SP1 and Excel 2013 RT SP1: Install security update KB3054991
  5. For Office Compatibility Pack SP3: Install security update KB3054990
  6. Restart the system after applying the updates
  7. Verify the updates are installed via Windows Update or by checking Add/Remove Programs
Caveat These older products (Excel 2007/2010/2013) are beyond mainstream support; Microsoft may not provide security updates for newly discovered vulnerabilities; upgrading to a supported version is recommended

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

Fix this in Excel Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2015-2377 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