iDefense Security Advisory 03.11.08: Microsoft Excel DVAL Heap Corruption Vulnerability
iDefense Security Advisory 03.11.08
http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/
Mar 11, 2008
I. BACKGROUND
Microsoft Excel is the spreadsheet application that is included with
Microsoft Corp's Office productivity software suite. More information
is available at the following website.
http://office.microsoft.com/excel/
II. DESCRIPTION
Remote exploitation of a heap corruption vulnerability in Microsoft
Corp.'s Excel spreadsheet application allows attackers to execute
arbitrary code in the context of the user who started Excel.
The vulnerability exists in the handling of DVAL records in BIFF8 format
spreadsheet files. When certain fields are set to invalid values, heap
corruption occurs.
III. ANALYSIS
Exploitation allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in the context
of the user who started Excel. Exploitation requires that attackers
persuade users to open a maliciously crafted file in Excel.
IV. DETECTION
iDefense has confirmed the existence of this vulnerability in Microsoft
Excel 2003 and Excel 2007. Previous versions may also be affected.
V. WORKAROUND
Disabling support for legacy binary file formats in the registry will
prevent exploitation of this issue. However, this workaround is not
available for all versions of Microsoft Excel.
VI. VENDOR RESPONSE
Microsoft has officially addressed this vulnerability with Security
Bulletin MS08-014. Previous releases, specifically Office 2007 SP1 and
Office 2003 SP3, included a fix for this issue. For more information,
consult their bulletin at the following URL.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms08-014.mspx
VII. CVE INFORMATION
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the
name CVE-2008-0111 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in
the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org/), which standardizes names for
security problems.
VIII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE
05/09/2007 Initial vendor notification
05/09/2007 Initial vendor response
03/11/2008 Coordinated public disclosure
IX. CREDIT
This vulnerability was discovered by Greg MacManus, iDefense Labs.
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X. LEGAL NOTICES
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at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use
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