Zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Office

Security bypass
CVE-2014-1809

The issue has been introduced in 01/30/2007.

Vulnerability details

Advisory: SB2014051304 - Security bypass in Microsoft Office

Vulnerable component: Microsoft Office

CVE-ID: CVE-2014-1809

CVSSv3 score: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:N/E:F/RL:O/RC:C

CWE-ID: CWE-264 - Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls

Description:

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to bypass security restrictions on the target system.

The weakness exists due to improper implementation of Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) features in MSCOMCTL. By persuading a victim to visit a specially-crafted Web site or open an application or Office document with a specially-crafted ActiveX control embedded within it, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to bypass ASLR and execute another attack that otherwise would have been blocked by ASLR.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability results in security bypass on the vulnerable system.

Note: the vulnerability was being actively exploited.

External links:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms14-024
https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/microsoft-patch-tuesday-may-2014
https://www.sophos.com/en-us/threat-center/threat-analyses/vulnerabilities/VET-000600.aspx

About zero-day vulnerabilities

Zero-day vulnerability is an undisclosed vulnerability in software that hackers can exploit to compromise computer programs, gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, penetrate networks, etc. We consider vulnerability a zero-day when there is no solution provided from software vendor and the vulnerability is being actively exploited by malicious actors.

Zero-day candidate is a potential zero-day vulnerability in software which might have been used in targeted attacks, however there is no evidence to support this suggestion.