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Microsoft Office PowerPoint Code Injection Vulnerability

CVE-2009-0556

What this means

This is rated high severity (8.8 out of 10). It is on the known-exploited catalogue, which means attacks using it have already been seen. Ask IT whether Microsoft Office Powerpoint and Microsoft Powerpoint are in your estate, and treat that as the priority.

Full vendor description

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, and 2003 SP3, and PowerPoint in Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a PowerPoint file with an OutlineTextRefAtom containing an an invalid index value that triggers memory corruption, as exploited in the wild in April 2009 by Exploit:Win32/Apptom.gen, aka "Memory Corruption Vulnerability."

Scoring and exploitation

8.8/ 10
CVSS 3.1 base scoreHigh

Exploitable over the network without any account, but only if a user takes an action, such as opening a file or link. High impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitability

Longer bar: easier to attack

Attack vectorNetworkAV:N
Attack complexityLowAC:L
Privileges requiredNonePR:N
User interactionRequiredUI:R
ScopeUnchangedS:U

Impact

Longer bar: more harm

ConfidentialityHighC:H
IntegrityHighI:H
AvailabilityHighA:H
Elevated attack likelihood (~67.3% in 30 days)Model estimate (): a probability signal, not confirmed exploitation
Exploited in the wild
Yes — confirmed exploitation (US CISA )
Not reported
Listed product
Microsoft Office

Weaknesses

CWE-94

Affected products ()

  • Microsoft Office Powerpoint
  • Microsoft Powerpoint
Show the raw CPE strings (4)
  • cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_powerpoint:2004:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:powerpoint:2000:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:powerpoint:2002:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:powerpoint:2003:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*

References

20 links from the CVE record, grouped by site; the vendor's advisory comes first.

Related feed events

  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint Code Injection Vulnerability

    Type Vulnerability

    Microsoft Office PowerPoint contains a code injection vulnerability that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a PowerPoint file with an OutlineTextRefAtom containing an invalid index…

    Next step: Confirm whether Microsoft Office is in your estate.

    Who's reporting

    1 of 3 perspectives

    Official authority: Official 1Vendor statement missing. no VendorResearcher coverage missing. no Researcher1 signal

    Only official coverage so far. Treat as an early signal.

    Microsoft Office
    CVE-2009-0556