Microsoft Excel up to 2019 memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Excel up to 2019. It has been declared as critical. The impacted element is an unknown function. The manipulation results in memory corruption. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2020-1498. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. It is best practice to apply a patch to resolve this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Microsoft Excel up to 2019 (Spreadsheet Software). Affected is some unknown processing. 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. CVE summarizes:

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Excel software when the software fails to properly handle objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. Exploitation of the vulnerability requires that a user open a specially crafted file with an affected version of Microsoft Excel. In an email attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending the specially crafted file to the user and convincing the user to open the file. In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a website (or leverage a compromised website that accepts or hosts user-provided content) containing a specially crafted file designed to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker would have no way to force users to visit the website. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to click a link, typically by way of an enticement in an email or instant message, and then convince them to open the specially crafted file. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Microsoft Excel handles objects in memory.

The weakness was released 08/11/2020 as confirmed security update guide (Website). The advisory is available at portal.msrc.microsoft.com. The public release was coordinated with the vendor. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2020-1498. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploitation doesn't require any form of authentication. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available. The advisory points out:

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Excel software when the software fails to properly handle objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Type

• Spreadsheet Software

Vendor

• Microsoft

Name

• Excel

Version

• 365 Apps for Enterprise
• 2010 SP2
• 2013 RT SP1
• 2013 SP1
• 2016
• 2019

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.microsoft.com/

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