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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 24 Mar 2022.
Excel ViewerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2015-2424

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2015-07-14
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges Patch available

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 PowerPoint 2007 SP3, Word 2007 SP3, PowerPoint 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, PowerPoint 2013 SP1, Word 2013 SP1, and PowerPoint 2013 RT 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

Memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft PowerPoint and Word allows remote code execution via crafted Office documents. When a victim opens a specially crafted .ppt or .doc file, the application mishandles objects in memory, leading to arbitrary code execution under the user's context.

MitigationApply Microsoft security update MS15-070 to patch all affected Office versions. Additionally, enable Protected View for untrusted documents and warn users against opening files from unknown 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
Excel ViewerApplication
Affected:= 2007
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010= 2011= 2013
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:all versions
PowerpointApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010
WordApplication
Affected:= 2013
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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Microsoft Office applications
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for Microsoft Office (including PowerPoint, Word, Excel) or Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. Alternatively, check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office for installed versions.
    Affected if Any of the following are installed: PowerPoint 2007/2010, Word 2013, Excel Viewer 2007+, Word Viewer, Office Compatibility Pack, or general Office 2007/2010/2011/2013 versions.
  2. Determine installed PowerPoint version
    Open PowerPoint, go to File > Account > About PowerPoint. Note the version number (e.g., 14.0.xxxx for Office 2010, 15.0.xxxx for Office 2013).
    Affected if Version starts with 14.0 (Office 2010) or 15.0 (Office 2013) and falls within the affected SP2 (14.0) or SP1 (15.0) ranges.
  3. Determine installed Word version
    Open Word, go to File > Account > About Word. Note the version number.
    Affected if Version starts with 15.0 (Office 2013) and is SP1 or earlier.
  4. Check if MS15-070 security update is installed
    Open Windows Update > View update history, or check registry HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages for KB3072600 (or KB3055033 for some versions). Use command: wmic qfe list | findstr KB3055033 KB3072600
    Affected if The specific KB update for MS15-070 is NOT installed (meaning the vulnerability is not patched).

A user is affected if they have any affected Office application version (PowerPoint 2007/2010, Word 2013, Office 2007/2010/2011/2013, Excel Viewer, Word Viewer, or Compatibility Pack) AND the MS15-070 security update is not installed.

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch docs.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security update MS15-070 to patch all affected Office versions. Additionally, enable Protected View for untrusted documents and warn users against opening files from unknown sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

For long-term support, upgrade to Microsoft Office 2016 or Microsoft 365, which receive continuous security updates. Specific patch is MS15-046 (June 2015).

  1. Install Microsoft Security Bulletin MS15-046, which addresses CVE-2015-2424. This can be obtained via Windows Update or the Microsoft Download Center.
  2. Ensure Microsoft Office is updated to the following minimum service pack levels: Office 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Office 2013 SP1.
  3. For Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, apply the security update released in June 2015.
  4. After patching, verify the update was applied by checking Windows Update history or Office program version information.
  5. Consider enabling the Office File Validation feature as an additional mitigation: Go to Trust Center Settings > File Block Settings and configure appropriate validation settings.
Caveat Standard patch installation carries minimal risk; however, ensure compatibility with existing Office add-ins and macros before deploying organization-wide.

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

Fix this in Excel Viewer Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2015-2424 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