CVE-2015-6038
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 Excel 2007 SP3, Excel 2010 SP2, Excel 2013 SP1, Excel 2013 RT SP1, Excel 2016, Excel for Mac 2011, Excel 2016 for Mac, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Excel Viewer, and Excel Services on SharePoint Server 2007 SP3, 2010 SP2, and 2013 SP1 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code 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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Excel allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via specially crafted Office documents (.xlsx, .xls, etc.). The vulnerability affects multiple Excel versions across Windows, Mac, and SharePoint Server environments.
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= 2010= 2013= 2011= 2016all versionsall versions= 2007= 2010= 2013CVSS 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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Check Windows Excel versionOpen Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel, or check registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\(version)\Excel\InstallRootAffected if The displayed version matches 2007, 2010, or 2013 (any subversion)
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Check Excel for Mac versionOpen Excel for Mac, go to Excel > About Microsoft ExcelAffected if The displayed version matches 2011 or 2016 (any subversion)
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Check if Excel Viewer is installedSearch for ExcelViewer.exe in Program Files, or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Excel ViewerAffected if Excel Viewer is present on the system (any version)
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Check Office Compatibility Pack installationSearch for Excelcnv.exe in Program Files, or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office Compatibility PackAffected if Compatibility Pack is installed (any version)
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Check SharePoint Server versionCheck SharePoint Central Administration > System Settings > Manage farm features, or check registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SharePoint\ProductVersionAffected if SharePoint Server version matches 2007, 2010, or 2013
A user is affected if any of the following are installed: Excel 2007/2010/2013, Excel for Mac 2011/2016, any version of Excel Viewer, any version of Office Compatibility Pack, or SharePoint Server 2007/2010/2013.
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.
From vendor dataApply Microsoft security patches for the affected Excel versions. Until patches are applied, warn users not to open Office documents from untrusted sources and disable macro execution.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 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 $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-6038 — 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-2015-6038 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