Vulnerability record

CVE-2009-0238

Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution

Severity: HighExploitation: Exploitation confirmedCISA KEV
What should I do?

This vulnerability is in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: attackers are using it. If you run Office, fix it now.

CISA required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

US federal civilian agencies must remediate by Apr 28, 2026.

Patch status

No official fix confirmed yet

Until a fix ships, follow the vendor's mitigations and CISA's required action, limit exposure of affected systems, and watch this record for a patch.

Description

Microsoft Office Excel 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 SP1; Excel Viewer 2003 Gold and SP3; Excel Viewer; Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP1; and Excel in Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Excel document that triggers an access attempt on an invalid object, as exploited in the wild in February 2009 by Trojan.Mdropper.AC.

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database. Official vulnerability data, reproduced as published.

Affected products

Products affected by this vulnerability, with versions and the source of each entry
ProductVendorAffected versionsSource
ExcelMicrosoft2000; 2002; 2003; 2007NVD
OfficeMicrosoft2004; 2008KEV

Sources: NVD = NIST National Vulnerability Database; KEV = CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Intelligence timeline

Developments from the last 30 days, newest first.

  1. CVSS scoredUpdateKEV

    CVE-2009-0238 scored CVSS 8.8: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution

    CISA lists this as exploited in the wild. Unpatched Office systems are exposed to active attacks now.

    Basis: NIST National Vulnerability Database

1 earlier event is available with a subscription. See plans.

Coverage

We have not published a story about this vulnerability yet.

References