Vulnerability Note VU#302836

Microsoft Excel fails to properly process a malformed Column record

Overview

Microsoft Excel contains a memory corruption vulnerability that could enable an attacker to exectue arbitrary code and gain complete control of the vulnerable system.

I. Description

Microsoft Excel fails to properly handle malformed Column records. When an Excel file is opened, Excel does not properly perform data validation on the Column record. An attacker could send a specially crafted Column record in the Excel file that, when opened, could corrupt system memory allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code. The attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

II. Impact

An attacker could gain complete control of the affected system and execute arbitrary code.

III. Solution

Microsoft addresses this vulnerability with the updates listed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-002.

Note that Microsoft has re-released the updates in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-002 for Excel 2000. See the Microsoft Security Response Center blog for more information.

Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less affected than users who operate with administrative user rights.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Updated
Microsoft Corporation	Vulnerable	23-Jan-2007

References

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS07-002.mspx
http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/display.php?id=460
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/21925
http://securitytracker.com/alerts/2007/Jan/1017487.html
http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2007/01/18/re-release-of-ms07-002-for-excel-2000.aspx

Credit

Thanks to Greg MacManus of iDefense Labs for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Joseph Pruszynski.

Other Information

Date Public	01/09/2007
Date First Published	01/09/2007 04:18:00 PM
Date Last Updated	01/23/2007
CERT Advisory
CVE Name	CVE-2007-0030
Metric	60.24
Document Revision	14

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