U.S. flag   An official website of the United States government
Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (Dot gov) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

NOTICE

NIST is currently working to establish a consortium to address challenges in the NVD program and develop improved tools and methods. You will temporarily see delays in analysis efforts during this transition. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask for your patience as we work to improve the NVD program.

CVE-2008-4841 Detail

Description

The WordPad Text Converter for Word 97 files in Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2, and Server 2003 SP1 and SP2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted (1) .doc, (2) .wri, or (3) .rtf Word 97 file that triggers memory corruption, as exploited in the wild in December 2008. NOTE: As of 20081210, it is unclear whether this vulnerability is related to a WordPad issue disclosed on 20080925 with a 2008-crash.doc.rar example, but there are insufficient details to be sure.


Evaluator Description

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/960906.mspx Microsoft Security Advisory (960906) Vulnerability in WordPad Text Converter Could Allow Remote Code Execution Published: December 9, 2008 Microsoft is investigating new reports of a vulnerability in the WordPad Text Converter for Word 97 files on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2. Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 are not affected as these operating systems do not contain the vulnerable code. Upon completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to protect our customers, which may include providing a solution through a service pack, our monthly security update release process, or an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs. At this time, we are aware only of limited and targeted attacks that attempt to use this vulnerability. Additionally, as the issue has not been publicly disclosed broadly, we believe the risk at this time to be limited. We continue to encourage responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities. We believe the commonly accepted practice of reporting vulnerabilities directly to a vendor serves everyone's best interests. This practice helps to ensure that customers receive comprehensive, high-quality updates for security vulnerabilities without exposure to malicious attackers while the update is being developed. Customers who believe that they have been attacked can obtain security support at Get security support and should contact the national law enforcement agency in their country. Customers in the United States can contact Customer Service and Support at no charge using the PC Safety hotline at 1-866-PCSAFETY. Additionally, customers in the United States should contact their local FBI office or report their situation at Internet Crime Complaint Center. Microsoft continues to encourage customers to follow the "Protect Your Computer" guidance of enabling a firewall, applying all software updates and installing anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Additional information can be found at Security at home. Mitigating Factors: • This issue does not affect Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. • An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less affected than users who operate with administrative user rights. • The vulnerability cannot be exploited automatically through e-mail. For an attack to be successful, a user must open an attachment that is sent in an e-mail message. • When Microsoft Office Word is installed, Word 97 documents are by default opened using Microsoft Office Word, which is not affected by this vulnerability. However, an attacker could rename a malicious file to have a Windows Write (.wri) extension, which would still invoke WordPad. This file type can be blocked at the Internet perimeter.

Severity



CVSS 3.x Severity and Metrics:

NIST CVSS score
NIST: NVD
Base Score:  N/A
NVD assessment not yet provided.


NVD Analysts use publicly available information to associate vector strings and CVSS scores. We also display any CVSS information provided within the CVE List from the CNA.

Note: NVD Analysts have not published a CVSS score for this CVE at this time. NVD Analysts use publicly available information at the time of analysis to associate CVSS vector strings.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

By selecting these links, you will be leaving NIST webspace. We have provided these links to other web sites because they may have information that would be of interest to you. No inferences should be drawn on account of other sites being referenced, or not, from this page. There may be other web sites that are more appropriate for your purpose. NIST does not necessarily endorse the views expressed, or concur with the facts presented on these sites. Further, NIST does not endorse any commercial products that may be mentioned on these sites. Please address comments about this page to nvd@nist.gov.

Hyperlink Resource
http://milw0rm.com/sploits/2008-crash.doc.rar Exploit 
http://securityreason.com/securityalert/4711
http://securitytracker.com/id?1021376
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/960906.mspx Vendor Advisory 
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/31399
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/32718
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-104A.html US Government Resource 
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/3390
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1024
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-010
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A6050
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/6560

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-ID CWE Name Source
NVD-CWE-noinfo Insufficient Information cwe source acceptance level NIST  
CWE-399 Resource Management Errors cwe source acceptance level NIST  

Known Affected Software Configurations Switch to CPE 2.2

CPEs loading, please wait.

Denotes Vulnerable Software
Are we missing a CPE here? Please let us know.

Change History

5 change records found show changes

Quick Info

CVE Dictionary Entry:
CVE-2008-4841
NVD Published Date:
12/10/2008
NVD Last Modified:
02/26/2019
Source:
Microsoft Corporation