Microsoft Office Excel 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP2 and SP3, and 2007 Gold and SP1; Office Excel Viewer 2003 Gold and SP3; Office Excel Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack 2007 Gold and SP1; Office SharePoint Server 2007 Gold and SP1; and Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac do not properly parse Country record values when loading Excel files, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Excel file, aka the "Excel Record Parsing Vulnerability." This vulnerability has multiple attack vectors and CIA impact. Please review the following guidance from Microsoft for more information:
An attack against a user's local Excel client can result in remote code execution. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system remotely. An attacker could then install programs or view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.
An attack against a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 site can result in elevation of privilege. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain an elevation of privilege within SharePoint server, as opposed to elevation of privilege within the workstation or server environment.
In an attack against a SharePoint site, an attacker would first need an account on the SharePoint site with sufficient rights to upload a specially crafted Excel file and then create a web part using the file on the SharePoint site.
Publication date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:41:00 +0000