Memory corruption in Microsoft products - CVE-2009-3129
Published: March 21, 2017 / Updated: October 9, 2021
Vulnerability identifier: #VU6141
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4: 8.4 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2009-3129
CWE-ID: CWE-119
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
The vulnerability is being exploited in the wild
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.
The weakness exists due to boundary error when parsing of the Excel spreadsheet file format. A remote attacker can create a specially crafted .xls file containing a malformed record object, trick the victim into opening it, trigger Featheader record memory corruption and execute arbitrary code with privileges of the current user.
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may result in arbitrary code execution on the vulnerable system.
The weakness exists due to boundary error when parsing of the Excel spreadsheet file format. A remote attacker can create a specially crafted .xls file containing a malformed record object, trick the victim into opening it, trigger Featheader record memory corruption and execute arbitrary code with privileges of the current user.
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may result in arbitrary code execution on the vulnerable system.
Affected software
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office
Excel Viewer
Microsoft Office for macOS
Microsoft Office
Excel Viewer
Microsoft Office for macOS
How to mitigate CVE-2009-3129
Install update from vendor's website.
Links to Public Exploits and PoC-codes
- Exploit #1130 - Microsoft Excel - Malformed FEATHEADER Record (MS09-067) (Metasploit) (March 18, 2020)
- Exploit #1131 - Microsoft Excel - Malformed FEATHEADER Record Exploit (MS09-067) (March 18, 2020)
- Exploit #1637 - MS09-067 Microsoft Excel Malformed FEATHEADER Record Vulnerability (March 18, 2020)