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.
OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2015-2545

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2015-09-09
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit 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 Office 2007 SP3, 2010 SP2, 2013 SP1, and 2013 RT SP1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted EPS image, aka "Microsoft Office Malformed EPS File 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 Office's EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) image file parser allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by convincing a user to open a specially crafted Office document containing a malformed EPS image.

MitigationApply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS15-099 which addresses this vulnerability, or deploy subsequent cumulative Office updates. Consider disabling the EPS filter in Office as an additional hardening measure.

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
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010= 2013= 2016

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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. Check installed Microsoft Office version
    Open any Office application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), go to File > Account > About [App], or run 'winword.exe /?' from Command Prompt to see the version number
    Affected if Version is 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016 (exact versions as listed in affected products)
  2. Verify EPS filter is present and enabled
    Check if the EPS import filter file (EPSIMP32.FLT) exists in the Office filter folder (typically C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Filters or within the Office installation directory)
    Affected if The EPS filter file exists on the system, as the vulnerability is in the EPS image parser component
  3. Confirm security update MS15-099 is not installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, or run 'wmic qfe list' command, and search for update KB3080790 or KB3055039 (the patches for MS15-099)
    Affected if The MS15-099 security update is absent and the system remains unpatched for this vulnerability

A user is affected if they have an unpatched Office 2007/2010/2013/2016 installation with the EPS filter enabled and no MS15-099 update applied.

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 Bulletin MS15-099 which addresses this vulnerability, or deploy subsequent cumulative Office updates. Consider disabling the EPS filter in Office as an additional hardening measure.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence
  1. Check for and apply the appropriate Microsoft Security Bulletin update for this vulnerability
  2. For Office 2007: Install MS15-099 or subsequent security updates
  3. For Office 2010: Install MS15-099 or subsequent security updates
  4. For Office 2013: Install MS15-099 or subsequent security updates
  5. For Office 2016: Install MS15-099 or subsequent security updates
  6. Restart affected systems after applying updates
  7. Verify the update was successfully installed via Windows Update or manual KB check

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

Fix this in Office Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2015-2545 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