Vulnerabilities > CVE-2017-11878 - Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer vulnerability in Microsoft Excel, Excel Viewer and Office Compatibility Pack
Attack vector
LOCAL Attack complexity
LOW Privileges required
NONE Confidentiality impact
HIGH Integrity impact
HIGH Availability impact
HIGH Summary
Microsoft Excel 2007 Service Pack 3, Microsoft Excel 2010 Service Pack 2, Microsoft Excel 2013 Service Pack 1, Microsoft Excel 2013 RT Service Pack 1, Microsoft Excel 2016, Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack Service Pack 3, and Microsoft Excel Viewer 2007 Service Pack 3 allow an attacker to run arbitrary code in the context of the current user by failing to properly handle objects in memory, aka "Microsoft Excel Memory Corruption Vulnerability".
Vulnerable Configurations
| Part | Description | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Application | 7 |
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables This attack pattern involves causing a buffer overflow through manipulation of environment variables. Once the attacker finds that they can modify an environment variable, they may try to overflow associated buffers. This attack leverages implicit trust often placed in environment variables.
- Overflow Buffers Buffer Overflow attacks target improper or missing bounds checking on buffer operations, typically triggered by input injected by an attacker. As a consequence, an attacker is able to write past the boundaries of allocated buffer regions in memory, causing a program crash or potentially redirection of execution as per the attackers' choice.
- Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow This type of attack exploits a buffer overflow vulnerability in targeted client software through injection of malicious content from a custom-built hostile service.
- Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow In this attack, the idea is to cause an active filter to fail by causing an oversized transaction. An attacker may try to feed overly long input strings to the program in an attempt to overwhelm the filter (by causing a buffer overflow) and hoping that the filter does not fail securely (i.e. the user input is let into the system unfiltered).
- MIME Conversion An attacker exploits a weakness in the MIME conversion routine to cause a buffer overflow and gain control over the mail server machine. The MIME system is designed to allow various different information formats to be interpreted and sent via e-mail. Attack points exist when data are converted to MIME compatible format and back.
Nessus
NASL family Windows : Microsoft Bulletins NASL id SMB_NT_MS17_NOV_EXCEL.NASL description The Microsoft Excel Products are missing security updates. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities : - A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office 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. (CVE-2017-11878) - A security feature bypass vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office software by not enforcing macro settings on an Excel document. The security feature bypass by itself does not allow arbitrary code execution. To successfully exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would have to embed a control in an Excel worksheet that specifies a macro should be run. (CVE-2017-11877) - A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office 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 Office. 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. (CVE-2017-11884) last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 104556 published 2017-11-14 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/104556 title Security Updates for Microsoft Excel Products (November 2017) NASL family Windows : Microsoft Bulletins NASL id SMB_NT_MS17_NOV_OFFICE_VIEWERS.NASL description The Microsoft Office Products are missing security updates. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities : - A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office 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. (CVE-2017-11878) - A security feature bypass vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office software by not enforcing macro settings on an Excel document. The security feature bypass by itself does not allow arbitrary code execution. To successfully exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would have to embed a control in an Excel worksheet that specifies a macro should be run. (CVE-2017-11877) last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 104559 published 2017-11-14 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/104559 title Security Updates for Microsoft Office Viewer Products (November 2017) NASL family Windows : Microsoft Bulletins NASL id SMB_NT_MS17_NOV_OFFICE_COMPATIBILITY.NASL description The Microsoft Office Compatibility SP3 are missing security updates. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities : - A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office 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. (CVE-2017-11854, CVE-2017-11878) - A security feature bypass vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office software by not enforcing macro settings on an Excel document. The security feature bypass by itself does not allow arbitrary code execution. To successfully exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would have to embed a control in an Excel worksheet that specifies a macro should be run. (CVE-2017-11877) last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 104558 published 2017-11-14 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/104558 title Security Updates for Microsoft Office Compatibility SP3 (November 2017)