CVE-2015-0063 in Excel
Summary
by MITRE
Microsoft Excel 2007 SP3; the proofing tools in Office 2010 SP2; Excel 2010 SP2; Excel 2013 Gold, SP1, and RT; Excel Viewer; and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted Office document, aka "Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/10/2022
The CVE-2015-0063 vulnerability represents a critical remote code execution flaw affecting multiple Microsoft Office products including Excel 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2 proofing tools, Excel 2010 SP2, Excel 2013 Gold/SP1/RT, Excel Viewer, and Office Compatibility Pack SP3. This vulnerability operates through memory corruption techniques that enable attackers to execute arbitrary code on targeted systems or cause denial of service conditions when users open maliciously crafted Office documents. The flaw specifically impacts the parsing and processing of Office document formats, particularly those involving complex data structures and formatting elements that are commonly found in spreadsheet applications.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when Microsoft Excel applications process malformed Office documents containing specially crafted data structures that trigger memory corruption during document rendering or parsing operations. Attackers can construct malicious documents that, when opened by vulnerable applications, cause memory corruption leading to arbitrary code execution or system instability. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-125 vulnerability category, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions where an attacker can read memory locations beyond the bounds of allocated buffers. The flaw typically manifests when applications attempt to parse malformed data structures within Office documents, causing buffer overflows or memory corruption that can be leveraged for code execution.
The operational impact of CVE-2015-0063 extends beyond simple exploitation as it affects a wide range of Microsoft Office products commonly used in enterprise environments, making it particularly dangerous for organizations with extensive Office deployments. The vulnerability can be exploited through social engineering techniques where users are tricked into opening malicious documents via email attachments, web downloads, or compromised websites. When successfully exploited, this vulnerability can provide attackers with full system compromise capabilities, allowing them to execute malicious code with the privileges of the logged-in user. The attack vector primarily involves the Office document processing engine, making it difficult to detect through traditional network-based security controls as the exploitation occurs within the application context of the user's system.
Organizations can mitigate this vulnerability through several defensive measures including immediate deployment of Microsoft security patches and updates, which address the underlying memory corruption issues in the Office document processing components. System administrators should implement application whitelisting policies to restrict execution of Office applications from untrusted sources and configure Office applications to disable automatic execution of macros and embedded objects. Network security controls such as email filtering and web proxies can help prevent users from accessing malicious documents, while endpoint protection solutions should be configured to monitor for suspicious Office document behavior. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1204.002 which describes user execution through malicious file attachments, making it essential for organizations to implement comprehensive user awareness training alongside technical controls. Additionally, Microsoft recommends configuring Office applications to use safer parsing modes and disabling unnecessary Office features that could be exploited in this manner.