CVE-2018-0797 — Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Executive Summary

An Office RTF remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office software when the Office software fails to properly handle RTF files. 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 software. 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) that contains 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. The security update addresses the vulnerability by changing the way Microsoft Office software handles RTF content.

Overview

Critical

MS Severity

Not Exploited

MS Exploit Status

Less Likely

MS Exploit Likelihood

Category Remote Code Execution

Released Jan 9 2018

Last Updated Jan 9 2018

Publicly Disclosed No

CISA KEV Not Listed

Known Exploits None Known

EPSS Score

No EPSS score available for this CVE.

View on FIRST.org

Affected Products

19 affected products

Product	KB Article	Severity	Impact	Restart Required
Microsoft Office 2010 Service Pack 2 (32-bit editions)	`4011658 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Office 2010 Service Pack 2 (64-bit editions)	`4011658 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac	`Release Notes (Security Update)`	Important	Remote Code Execution	No
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack Service Pack 3	`4011607 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Office Online Server 2016	`4011022 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Office Web Apps 2010 Service Pack 2	`4011615 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Office Web Apps Server 2013 Service Pack 1	`4011648 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Office Word Viewer	`4011641 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft SharePoint Enterprise Server 2013 Service Pack 1	`4011579 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft SharePoint Enterprise Server 2016	`4011642 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Service Pack 2	`4011609 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Word 2007 Service Pack 3	`4011657 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Word 2010 Service Pack 2 (32-bit editions)	`4011659 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Word 2010 Service Pack 2 (64-bit editions)	`4011659 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Word 2013 RT Service Pack 1	`4011651 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Word 2013 Service Pack 1 (32-bit editions)	`4011651 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Word 2013 Service Pack 1 (64-bit editions)	`4011651 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Word 2016 (32-bit edition)	`4011643 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe
Microsoft Word 2016 (64-bit edition)	`4011643 (Security Update)`	Critical	Remote Code Execution	Maybe

Patches

14 patches

Article	Type	Restart
`4011658`	Security Update	Maybe
`Release Notes`	Security Update	No
`4011607`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011022`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011615`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011648`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011641`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011579`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011642`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011609`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011657`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011659`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011651`	Security Update	Maybe
`4011643`	Security Update	Maybe

Known Exploits

No known exploits have been linked for this CVE yet. When available, exploit references will be sourced from public repositories and may be unverified, incomplete, or non-functional. Always review code carefully before use in any environment.

Acknowledgments

Wayne Low of Fortinet’s FortiGuard Lab

References

MSRC Advisory MITRE NVD