CVE-2015-2477
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, Office for Mac 2011, Office for Mac 2016, and Word Viewer allow 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 confidenceThis is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office products (Office 2007 SP3, Office for Mac 2011/2016, and Word Viewer) that allows remote attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution through specially crafted malicious documents opened by victims.
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= 2011= 2016all versionsCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Microsoft Office versionOpen Word, go to File > Account > About Word (or run 'winword.exe /?' from command prompt) to see the exact version number and buildAffected if The installed version corresponds to Office 2007, Office 2011, or Office 2016 (any build within these major versions)
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Check for Microsoft Word Viewer installationSearch for 'WordViewer.exe' in Program Files or check Add/Remove Programs for 'Microsoft Word Viewer'Affected if Microsoft Word Viewer is installed (any version)
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Verify document handling behaviorAttempt to open a test document or check the default file handler associations for .doc and .docx files in Windows Default Programs settingsAffected if Microsoft Word or Word Viewer is set as the default handler for Word documents
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Review recent Windows Update history for Office patchesOpen Windows Update > View update history and filter for security updates related to Microsoft Office (look for KBxxxxxx entries from August 2015 or later)Affected if No security updates addressing this CVE have been installed, or the installed Office versions show no relevant patches in the update history
You are affected if you have Microsoft Office 2007, 2011, or 2016, or Microsoft Word Viewer installed, AND you do not have the August 2015 security updates applied that address this vulnerability.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply Microsoft security updates to all affected Office installations; until patches are applied, warn users against opening documents from untrusted sources and consider disabling macro execution via Group Policy.
Apply Microsoft Security Update MS15-058 (or later cumulative updates that include this fix)
- Apply Microsoft Security Update MS15-058, which addresses this vulnerability in Microsoft Office
- If automatic updates are enabled, check for and install the latest Office updates via Windows Update or Microsoft Update
- For manual installation, download MS15-058 from the Microsoft Download Center or Microsoft Update Catalog
- Ensure all affected Microsoft Office products (Office 2007 SP3, Office for Mac 2011, Office for Mac 2016, and Word Viewer) are updated
- After applying the update, restart the affected system and verify the update was successfully installed
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-2477 — 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-2015-2477 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