Vulnerability Note VU#260777

Microsoft Word fails to properly process crafted array data

Overview

Microsoft Word contains a remote code execution vulnerability that could enable an attacker to execute arbitrary code and gain complete control of the vulnerable system.

I. Description

Microsoft Word fails to properly handle malformed data within an array. When a Word file is opened, Word does not properly perform validation over data within the array. An attacker could send a specially crafted Word file in an email message or hosted on a website that, when opened, could allow 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 execute arbitrary code and gain complete control of the affected system.

III. Solution

Microsoft addresses this vulnerability with the updates listed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-024.

Do not open untrusted Office documents

Do not open unfamiliar or unexpected Office documents, particularly those hosted on web sites or delivered as email attachments. Please see Cyber Security Tip ST04-010.

Disable automatic opening of Microsoft Office documents

By default, Microsoft Office 97 and Microsoft Office 2000 will configure Internet Explorer to automatically open Microsoft Office documents. This feature can be disabled by using the Office Document Open Confirmation Tool. Mozilla Firefox users should disable automatic opening of files, as specified in the Securing Your Web Browser document.

Do not operate with higher user rights than you require

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	8-May-2007

References

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-024.mspx

Credit

Thanks to Microsoft for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Joseph Pruszynski.

Other Information

Date Public	05/08/2007
Date First Published	05/08/2007 05:18:47 PM
Date Last Updated	05/08/2007
CERT Advisory
CVE Name	CVE-2007-0035
US-CERT Technical Alerts
Metric	60.24
Document Revision	12

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Produced 2007 by US-CERT, a government organization
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