Microsoft Word/Office/Outlook 2003/2007/2010/2013 RTF Document memory corruption

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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8.7$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Microsoft Word, Office and Outlook 2003/2007/2010/2013 and classified as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component RTF Document Handler. Performing a manipulation results in memory corruption. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2014-1761. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. Moreover, an exploit is present. Due to its background and reception, this vulnerability has an historic impact. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Word, Office and Outlook 2003/2007/2010/2013 (Word Processing Software). It has been classified as very critical. This affects an unknown part of the component RTF Document Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Microsoft Word 2003 SP3, 2007 SP3, 2010 SP1 and SP2, 2013, and 2013 RT; Word Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack SP3; Office for Mac 2011; Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP1 and SP2 and 2013; Office Web Apps 2010 SP1 and SP2; and Office Web Apps Server 2013 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via crafted RTF data, as exploited in the wild in March 2014.

The bug was discovered 03/24/2014. The weakness was disclosed 03/24/2014 by Drew Hintz (Matt) with Google Security Team as 2953095 as confirmed bulletin (Technet). It is possible to read the advisory at technet.microsoft.com. The public release has been coordinated in cooperation with Microsoft. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2014-1761 since 01/29/2014. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/03/2025). Due to its background and reception, this vulnerability has a historic impact.

A public exploit has been developed in Ruby. The exploit is shared for download at securityfocus.com. It is declared as attacked. The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 3780 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $25k-$100k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 73414 (MS14-017: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word and Office Web Apps Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2949660) (Mac OS X)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family MacOS X Local Security Checks and running in the context l. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 121860 (Microsoft Word and Office Web Apps Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (MS14-017)). The CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog lists this issue since 02/15/2022 with a due date of 08/15/2022:

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Applying the patch 2953095 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at support.microsoft.com. It is possible to mitigate the problem by applying the configuration setting Trust Center / Protected View. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be patching the affected component. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability. Furthermore it is possible to detect and prevent this kind of attack with TippingPoint and the filter 12683.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (91994), Exploit-DB (32793), Zero-Day.cz (109), Tenable (73414) and SecurityFocus (BID 66385†). Further details are available at zdnet.com. The entries VDB-12845, VDB-12844 and VDB-12859 are pretty similar. Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Not Affected

  • Microsoft Wordpad

Productinfo

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CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

Video

Youtube: Not available anymore

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
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CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 8.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 8.7

VulDB Base Score: 10.0
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 7.8
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CVSSv2info

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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory corruption
CWE: CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Attacked
Programming Language: 🔍
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Nessus ID: 73414
Nessus Name: MS14-017: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word and Office Web Apps Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2949660) (Mac OS X)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
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Nessus Port: 🔍

OpenVAS ID: 804425
OpenVAS Name: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities (2949660)
OpenVAS File: 🔍
OpenVAS Family: 🔍

Saint ID: msword_rtf
Saint Name: Microsoft Word RTF Object Confusion

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

MetaSploit ID: ms14_017_rtf.rb
MetaSploit Name: MS14-017 Microsoft Word RTF Object Confusion
MetaSploit File: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍
Zero-Day.cz: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Patch
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Patch: 2953095
Config: Trust Center / Protected View
Suricata ID: 2018313
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TippingPoint: 🔍

McAfee IPS: 🔍
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Timelineinfo

11/17/2003 🔍
01/29/2014 +3726 days 🔍
03/24/2014 +54 days 🔍
03/24/2014 +0 days 🔍
03/24/2014 +0 days 🔍
03/24/2014 +0 days 🔍
03/24/2014 +0 days 🔍
03/24/2014 +0 days 🔍
03/25/2014 +1 days 🔍
03/25/2014 +0 days 🔍
03/26/2014 +1 days 🔍
04/08/2014 +13 days 🔍
08/03/2025 +4134 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: microsoft.com

Advisory: 2953095
Researcher: Drew Hintz (Matt)
Organization: Google Security Team
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍
Coordinated: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2014-1761 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2014-1761
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-12687

OVAL: 🔍
IAVM: 🔍

X-Force: 91994 - Microsoft Word RTF code execution, High Risk
SecurityFocus: 66385 - Microsoft Word CVE-2014-1761 Remote Memory Corruption Vulnerability
Secunia: 57577
SecurityTracker: 1029948
Vulnerability Center: 43735 - [MS14-017] Microsoft Word Remote Code Execution Vulnerability due to Memory Corruption when Opening a Crafted RTF Document, Critical

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013
Misc.: 🔍
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Entryinfo

Created: 03/26/2014 10:37
Updated: 08/03/2025 00:36
Changes: 03/26/2014 10:37 (113), 07/29/2019 21:08 (14), 04/22/2024 21:30 (24), 07/12/2024 05:29 (4), 07/24/2024 18:25 (12), 09/09/2024 22:29 (1), 08/03/2025 00:36 (3)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:1A5:103

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