CVE-2015-1770

Memory Safety in Microsoft Office 2013

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedMemory Safety

Published

10 June 2015

Modified

22 April 2026

KEV Added

28 March 2022

Patch / advisory

View advisory

CVSS Score v3.1 8.8

Click a component to see what it means

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.35 98th percentile

Risk Priority 90 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2015-1770 is a high-severity Access of Uninitialized Pointer (CWE-824) vulnerability in Microsoft Office. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 2% 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.

Microsoft Office 2013 SP1 and 2013 RT SP1 contain an uninitialized memory use vulnerability, identified as CVE-2015-1770 and assigned CWE-824, that permits remote code execution when a crafted Office document is processed. The flaw received a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8 reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, no required privileges, and required user interaction.

An attacker can deliver the malicious document through typical channels such as email or web downloads; successful exploitation grants arbitrary code execution on the target system, with high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Microsoft security bulletin MS15-059 describes the issue and supplies the corresponding security updates for affected Office installations.

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2015-1900

Vulnerability Data

Microsoft Office 2013 SP1 and 2013 RT SP1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Office document, aka "Microsoft Office Uninitialized Memory Use Vulnerability."

CWE(s): CWE-824
KEV Date Added: 28 March 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-2015-1642Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

CVE-2013-1331Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

CVE-2017-0261Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

CVE-2017-11882Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

CVE-2017-8570Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

CVE-2021-27059Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

CVE-2015-2545Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

CVE-2010-3333Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

CVE-2022-21971Same vendor: Microsoftboth on KEV

CVE-2017-0262Same product: Microsoft Officeboth on KEV

Affected Assets

microsoft

office

2013

Mitigating Controls

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 SDLC practices directly prevent uninitialized pointer bugs via coding standards, analysis, and reviews, but eliminating this single weakness only partially fulfills the broader control.

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 can detect uninitialized pointer usage before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that reduce uninitialized pointer defects.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match

degrades

Application security requirements can specify pointer initialization rules.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match

degrades

Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe pointer handling.