Microsoft Excel 2000/2002/2003/2004 XLS File memory corruption

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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9.5$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Microsoft Excel 2000/2002/2003/2004. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the component XLS File Handler. Such manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2006-3059. Furthermore, there is an exploit available. It is recommended to use an alternative to replace the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, has been found in Microsoft Excel 2000/2002/2003/2004 (Spreadsheet Software). Affected by this issue is an unknown function of the component XLS File Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to 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. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Unspecified vulnerability in Microsoft Excel 2000 through 2004 allows remote user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors. NOTE: this is a different vulnerability than CVE-2006-3086.

The bug was discovered 06/16/2006. The weakness was shared 06/16/2006 with Microsoft as MSRC/ARC (Website). The advisory is shared for download at blogs.technet.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2006-3059 since 06/16/2006. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 01/20/2025).

After even before and not, there has been an exploit disclosed. The exploit is available at exploit-db.com. It is declared as attacked. The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 2 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $25k-$100k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 22025 (MS06-037 / MS06-038: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel and Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (917284 / 917285) (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 110034 (Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (MS06-037)).

Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at windowsupdate.microsoft.com. The problem might be mitigated by replacing the product with as an alternative. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be establishing an alternative product. A possible mitigation has been published 4 weeks after the disclosure of the vulnerability. Attack attempts may be identified with Snort ID 7002. In this case the pattern |E0 C9 EA|y|F9 BA CE 11 8C 82 00 AA 00|K|A9 0B| is used for detection. Furthermore it is possible to detect and prevent this kind of attack with TippingPoint and the filter 4330.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (27179), Exploit-DB (1944), Zero-Day.cz (114), Tenable (22025) and SecurityFocus (BID 18422†). The entries VDB-2610, VDB-2788, VDB-4074 and VDB-4121 are related to this item. Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

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CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 10.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

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

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
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Exploitinginfo

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

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Attacked
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 22025
Nessus Name: MS06-037 / MS06-038: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel and Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (917284 / 917285) (Mac OS X)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍
Zero-Day.cz: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
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Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Alternative
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Patch: windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Snort ID: 7002
Snort Message: WEB-CLIENT excel url unicode overflow attempt
Snort Pattern: 🔍
TippingPoint: 🔍

McAfee IPS: 🔍
McAfee IPS Version: 🔍

SourceFire IPS: 🔍
ISS Proventia IPS: 🔍
PaloAlto IPS: 🔍
Fortigate IPS: 🔍

Timelineinfo

06/14/2006 🔍
06/14/2006 +0 days 🔍
06/16/2006 +1 days 🔍
06/16/2006 +0 days 🔍
06/16/2006 +0 days 🔍
06/16/2006 +0 days 🔍
06/16/2006 +0 days 🔍
06/16/2006 +0 days 🔍
06/17/2006 +0 days 🔍
06/17/2006 +0 days 🔍
06/18/2006 +1 days 🔍
06/26/2006 +8 days 🔍
07/11/2006 +15 days 🔍
07/11/2006 +0 days 🔍
01/20/2025 +6768 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: microsoft.com

Advisory: MSRC/ARC
Researcher: http://www.microsoft.com
Organization: Microsoft
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2006-3059 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2006-3059
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-2324

OVAL: 🔍

CERT: 🔍
X-Force: 27179 - Microsoft Excel unspecified code execution, High Risk
SecurityFocus: 18422 - Microsoft Excel Unspecified Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
Secunia: 20686 - Microsoft Excel Multiple Code Execution Vulnerabilities, Extremely Critical
OSVDB: 26527 - Microsoft Excel Malformed URL String Handling Overflow
SecurityTracker: 1016316
Vulnerability Center: 11940 - [MS06-037] Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution via Malformed File, Medium
Vupen: ADV-2006-2361

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013
See also: 🔍

Entryinfo

Created: 06/26/2006 15:15
Updated: 01/20/2025 20:03
Changes: 06/26/2006 15:15 (115), 06/20/2019 18:28 (2), 07/22/2024 05:23 (23), 01/20/2025 20:03 (3)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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