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CVE-2012-0141: Excel may run malicious code when opening crafted spreadsheet

CVE-2012-0141 · published 14 years ago

Summary

Several versions of Microsoft Excel, Excel Viewer, Office for Mac, and the Office Compatibility Pack can be tricked into running unwanted code when they open a specially made spreadsheet file. This could let an attacker take control of the computer that opens the file. Install the latest updates from Microsoft for the affected products as soon as possible.

What to do

The CVE record does not list a fixed version. Check the vendor's site or the advisory links below - a fix may already be released.

Affected software

Vendor	Product	Affected versions
microsoft	excel	2003 2007 2010 `cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2003:sp3::::::`
microsoft	excel_viewer	All versions `cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel_viewer::::::::`
microsoft	office	2011 `cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2011::mac:::::`
microsoft	office_compatibility_pack	All versions `cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_compatibility_pack::sp2::::::*`

Original advisory text

Microsoft Excel 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2 and SP3, and 2010 Gold and SP1; Office 2011 for Mac; Excel Viewer; and Office Compatibility Pack SP2 and SP3 do not properly handle memory during the opening of files, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted spreadsheet, aka "Excel File Format Memory Corruption Vulnerability."

References

Fix within

Internet-facing 14 days

Internal At next upgrade

Not known to be exploited
Needs hands-on effort to exploit (estimated)
Gives an attacker full control (estimated)

Severity

9.3 Critical

Exploitation

22% chance of attack within 30 days

Type

CWE-119Buffer Overflow

Timeline

Published9 May 2012

Updated29 Sep 2026

First seen29 Sep 2026

Sources

CVE-2012-0141 · NVD

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