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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 17 Mar 2022.
ExcelApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2019-1297

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-09-11
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
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Excel software when the software fails to properly handle objects in memory, aka 'Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution 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 handling vulnerability in Microsoft Excel allows remote code execution when users open specially crafted malicious files. The software fails to properly handle objects in memory, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.

MitigationApply the available Microsoft security updates for Excel to address the memory handling flaw. Users should avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Excel 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
ExcelApplication
Affected:= 2010= 2013= 2016
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2016= 2019
Office 365 ProplusApplication
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 Excel version
    Open Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel, or run 'winword /?' or 'excel /?' from command prompt to see version information
    Affected if The displayed version matches Excel 2010, Excel 2013, or Excel 2016
  2. Identify installed Microsoft Office version
    Open any Office app, go to File > Account > About [App], or check Programs and Features in Control Panel for Microsoft Office installation
    Affected if The installed Office version is 2016 or 2019 and includes Excel component
  3. Determine if Office 365 ProPlus is in use
    Check Office subscription status via File > Account in any Office application, or view installed programs for 'Microsoft 365' or 'Office 365' entries
    Affected if Office 365 ProPlus is installed (all versions are affected per the CVE)
  4. Verify attack surface exposure
    Check if users in the environment routinely open Excel files from external or untrusted sources, or review email gateway policies for attachment handling
    Affected if Users regularly open Excel attachments from unknown or untrusted sources without prior scrutiny

You are affected if Excel 2010, 2013, or 2016 is installed; or Office 2016 or 2019 with Excel is present; or Office 365 ProPlus is in use, and users could open malicious Excel files.

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 the available Microsoft security updates for Excel to address the memory handling flaw. Users should avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Excel files from unknown sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

For Office 365 ProPlus users: ensure automatic updates are enabled to receive the latest security patches; for perpetual versions: upgrade to Excel 2016 or later with latest security updates installed

  1. Open Microsoft Update or check for updates in your Office application
  2. Install the September 2019 security update for your version of Microsoft Excel/Office
  3. Restart the affected application and computer if prompted
  4. Verify the update was installed by checking 'File > Account > Update Options > View Update History' in Excel
Caveat Standard security update - minimal risk; updates are cumulative and include only security fixes

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

Fix this in Excel Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,440
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,504.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2019-1297 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