Vulnerability Note VU#609868

Microsoft Office string parsing vulnerability

Overview

Microsoft Office fails to properly parse strings. This vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code.

I. Description

Microsoft Office applications fail to properly parse strings. When an Office document containing malformed string is opened with an Office application, system memory can be corrupted in a way that may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

More information, including a list of affected Office applications, is available in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-038.

II. Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code.

III. Solution

Apply a patch from Microsoft

Microsoft addresses this vulnerability with the updates listed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-038.

Do not access Office documents from untrusted sources

By only accessing Office documents, such as spreadsheets or Microsoft Word documents, from trusted or known sources, the chances of exploitation are reduced.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Updated
Microsoft Corporation	Vulnerable	11-Jul-2006

References

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-038.mspx

Credit

This vulnerability was reported in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-038. Microsoft credits Elia Florio of Symantec with providing information regarding this vulnerability.

This document was written by Jeff Gennari.

Other Information

Date Public	07/11/2006
Date First Published	07/11/2006 04:03:27 PM
Date Last Updated	07/11/2006
CERT Advisory
CVE Name	CVE-2006-1540
US-CERT Technical Alerts
Metric	33.67
Document Revision	8

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Produced 2006 by US-CERT, a government organization
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