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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.
OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2017-0261

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2017-05-12
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 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 2010 SP2, Office 2013 SP1, and Office 2016 allow a remote code execution vulnerability when the software fails to properly handle objects in memory, aka "Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerability". This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2017-0262 and CVE-2017-0281.

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 Office 2010 SP2, 2013 SP1, and 2016 that allows remote code execution when the software fails to properly handle objects in memory, typically triggered by opening specially crafted Office documents.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for affected Office versions and instruct users to avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Office 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
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 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. Identify installed Microsoft Office version
    Open any Office application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), go to File > Account > About [App] or check Programs and Features for Microsoft Office. The version number appears in the format YY.MMM (e.g., 16.0.xxxx for Office 2016).
    Affected if The version displayed is 2010, 2013, or 2016 with no security updates applied.
  2. Verify Office service pack level
    For Office 2010, verify SP2 is installed via File > Help in any Office app (shows 'Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 SP2'). For Office 2013, verify SP1 is installed via the same method. For Office 2016, check the build number in File > Account > About [App].
    Affected if Office 2010 is at SP2, Office 2013 is at SP1, or Office 2016 has a build number before the security patch was released (May 2017).
  3. Check Windows Update history for Office security patches
    Open Windows Update (Windows Key + R, type 'ms-settings:windowsupdate'), view update history, and look for security updates installed in May 2017 or later related to Microsoft Office (KB numbers such as KB3191823 for Office 2016, KB3191822 for Office 2013, KB3191824 for Office 2010).
    Affected if No relevant Office security patch from May 2017 or later appears in the update history.
  4. Inspect Office file handling behavior
    When opening Office documents (especially .doc, .docx, .rtf, .ppt, .pptx from untrusted sources), monitor for unexpected application crashes, abnormal memory usage spikes, or spawning of suspicious child processes (check via Task Manager during document open).
    Affected if The system exhibits crash behavior or anomalous process spawning when opening specially crafted Office documents, indicating exploitation of the memory corruption flaw.

You are affected if any Microsoft Office 2010 SP2, 2013 SP1, or 2016 installation lacks the May 2017 security update and processes untrusted Office documents without protective controls.

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 portal.msrc.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates for affected Office versions and instruct users to avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Office documents from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence
  1. Open Microsoft Update or Windows Update to check for available updates
  2. Locate the security update for Microsoft Office that addresses CVE-2017-0261
  3. Alternatively, manually download the specific security update from the Microsoft Update Catalog for your Office version: KB (security update) from the month of the fix
  4. Install the security update and restart the computer if prompted
  5. Verify the update was installed successfully via Office application or Windows Update history

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

Fix this in Office Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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-2017-0261 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