CVE-2015-2477 in Office
Summary
by MITRE
Microsoft Office 2007 SP3, Office for Mac 2011, Office for Mac 2016, and Word Viewer allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted document, aka "Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/09/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-2477 represents a critical memory corruption flaw within Microsoft Office applications that affects multiple versions including Office 2007 SP3, Office for Mac 2011, Office for Mac 2016, and Word Viewer. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-125 weakness category, which specifically addresses out-of-bounds read conditions that can lead to memory corruption and arbitrary code execution. The flaw manifests when these applications process specially crafted documents that contain malformed data structures, particularly within the Word document parsing engine. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by enticing users to open maliciously crafted Word documents through various attack vectors such as email attachments, web downloads, or malicious websites. The vulnerability operates at the application layer where the Office suite fails to properly validate input data during document parsing operations, creating a pathway for attackers to manipulate memory contents and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the targeted user. This represents a classic buffer overflow scenario where insufficient bounds checking allows attackers to overwrite memory locations and potentially redirect program execution flow. The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it enables remote code execution without requiring user interaction beyond opening the malicious document, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where users frequently open documents from external sources. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1203 - Exploitation for Client Execution technique, as it leverages application-specific vulnerabilities to achieve remote code execution. Organizations running affected Office versions face significant risk of compromise, as the vulnerability can be exploited across different operating systems including Windows and macOS platforms. The exploitability of this vulnerability is enhanced by the widespread use of Microsoft Office applications in corporate and personal environments, where users typically have elevated privileges and access to sensitive network resources. Security researchers have noted that the vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal user interaction, making it particularly effective for phishing campaigns and targeted attacks against specific organizations. The memory corruption occurs during the parsing of Word document elements, particularly when processing complex formatting or embedded objects within the document structure. This vulnerability demonstrates the ongoing challenges in securing complex office productivity suites where extensive parsing logic must handle numerous document formats and features. Microsoft addressed this vulnerability through security updates that improved input validation and memory management within the Office applications, emphasizing the importance of timely patch management for enterprise security. The vulnerability highlights the critical need for organizations to maintain current security patches and implement additional protective measures such as email filtering, application whitelisting, and user education to reduce the risk of exploitation. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and monitoring solutions to detect potential exploitation attempts and limit the lateral movement of attackers who successfully compromise systems through this vulnerability.