TippingPoint Zero Day Initiative

Microsoft Excel BIFF File Format Named Graph Record Parsing Stack Overflow Vulnerability

ZDI-07-026: May 8th, 2007

CVE ID

Affected Vendors

Affected Products

Vulnerability Details

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Microsoft Office Excel. Exploitation requires that the attacker coerce the target into opening a malicious .XLS file.

The specific flaw exists within the parsing of the BIFF file format used by Microsoft Excel. During the processing of a malformed Named Graph record, user-supplied data may be copied to the stack unchecked thereby leading to an exploitable stack-based buffer overflow.

Vendor Response

Microsoft has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:

Disclosure Timeline

    2006-11-16 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
    2007-05-08 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

This vulnerability was discovered by:
    Manuel Santamarina Suarez