Cyber Resilience

CVE-2009-0563

Memory Safety in Microsoft Office 2000 … xp

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedMemory Safety
Published
10 June 2009
Modified
22 April 2026
KEV Added
08 June 2022
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.63 99.1th percentile
Risk Priority 83 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2009-0563 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Microsoft Office. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 0.9% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

The vulnerability CVE-2009-0563 is a stack-based buffer overflow present in Microsoft Office Word 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 SP1/SP2, Microsoft Office for Mac 2004 and 2008, Open XML File Format Converter for Mac, Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 SP3 and Word Viewer, and the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP1 and SP2. It stems from improper handling of a crafted tag containing an invalid length field within a Word document and is tracked as CWE-787 with a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8.

An attacker can exploit the flaw by sending a specially crafted Word document to a victim, who triggers arbitrary code execution simply by opening the file in an affected application. The attack requires no authentication and succeeds under local access conditions when user interaction occurs.

References including US-CERT TA09-160A and associated vendor bulletins direct administrators to apply the patches released by Microsoft for the listed products and to exercise caution when handling untrusted Word documents from external sources.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Stack-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office Word 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 SP1 and SP2; Microsoft Office for Mac 2004 and 2008; Open XML File Format Converter for Mac; Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 SP3; Microsoft Office Word Viewer;…

more

and Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP1 and SP2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a Word document with a crafted tag containing an invalid length field, aka "Word Buffer Overflow Vulnerability."

CWE(s)
CWE-787
KEV Date Added
08 June 2022

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2010-3333Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV
CVE-2018-0802Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV
CVE-2018-0798Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV
CVE-2009-3129Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV
CVE-2012-2539Same product: Microsoft Office Compatibility Packboth on KEV
CVE-2015-2424Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV
CVE-2015-1641Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV
CVE-2015-1642Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV
CVE-2014-1761Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV
CVE-2012-1889Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

Affected Assets

microsoft
office
2000, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008
microsoft
office compatibility pack
2007
microsoft
office word viewer
2003, all versions
microsoft
open xml file format converter
all versions

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

SI-16 Memory Protection
addresses: CWE-787

Out-of-bounds writes that corrupt control flow or inject shellcode are rendered non-executable by the same memory protections.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices (static analysis, bounds checking, code review) are the primary means of preventing out-of-bounds writes.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover out-of-bounds write flaws so they can be remediated.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching or replacing vulnerable software directly eliminates known instances of this coding weakness.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect and prevent out-of-bounds write defects.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that prevent out-of-bounds writes.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory handling.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles reduce the likelihood of buffer overflows.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding directly addresses out-of-bounds writes through language choice and coding standards.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References