Microsoft Excel XLSX code execution

Notification Type: IBM Internet Security Systems Protection Alert
Notification Date: March 09, 2010
Notification Version: 1.0
   
Name: Microsoft Excel XLSX code execution
Public disclosure/
In the wild date:
March 09, 2010
Aliases: MS10-017
CVE: CVE-2010-0263
Description: Microsoft Excel could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system, caused by the improper parsing of the Excel spreadsheet file format.

 

ISS Coverage

Product Content Version
Proventia Network IDS
Proventia Network IPS
Proventia Network MFS
Proventia Server (Linux)
RealSecure Network
RealSecure Server Sensor
30.030
Proventia Desktop
Proventia Server IPS (Windows)
2490
Propagation Techniques ISS Protection Available

remote exploit

 

MS_Excel_XLSX_Parsing_Exec

 09 Mar 2010

Detailed Description

Business Impact:

This vulnerability is in a core component of most modern Microsoft Office packages. The Microsoft Office Excel Viewer is a replacement for all previous Excel Viewer versions, including Excel Viewer 97 and Excel Viewer 2003.  While some customers may be able to react by blocking email with spreadsheet attachments through traditional email filtering means, this may not be feasible for everyone.  In this case, customers should enable protection technologies like the Proventia IPS signature for this issue and deploy patches as soon as they are available. 

*CVSS Base Score: 9.3
  Access Vector: Network
Access Complexity: Medium
Authentication: None
Confidentiality Impact: Complete
Integrity Impact: Complete
Availability Impact: Complete
Adjusted Temporal Score: 6.9
  Exploitability: Unproven
Remediation Level: Official Fix
Report Confidence: Confirmed
Affected Products: For a full list of affected versions, see references below.
Technical Description:

Microsoft Excel could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system, caused by the improper parsing of the Excel spreadsheet file format. By persuading a victim to open a specially-crafted XLSX file, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on the system with the privileges of the victim.

Remediation:

Patches are available. See References for details.

References

XFDB: http://xforce.iss.net/xforce/xfdb/56468
Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-017.mspx

Revision History

1.0 Initial publication.

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