CVE-2005-4131

Exp

Unspecified vulnerability in Microsoft Excel 2000, 2002, and 2003, in Microsoft Office 2000 SP3 and other packages, allows user-assisted attackers to execute arbitrary code via an Excel file with a malformed range, which could lead to memory corruption involving an argument to the msvcrt.memmove function, aka "Brand new Microsoft Excel Vulnerability," as originally placed for sale on eBay as item number 7203336538.

Published: 2005-12-09 Last update: 2026-04-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2005-4131 is rated High Exploit Risk (78.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 69.09%, 99th percentile). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +2.14% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2005-4131

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
26769 exploit_db edb 2005-12-08 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2005-4131

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-03-30 66.95% 69.09% +2.14%
2 2025-03-29 69.09% 66.95% -2.14%
3 2025-03-23 69.09%

Full EPSS history (12 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2005-4131

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2005-4131

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2005-4131

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft excel 95 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:95:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 97 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:97:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 97 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:97:sr1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 97 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:97:sr2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2000 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2000:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2000 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2000:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2000 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2000:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2000 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2000:sr1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2002 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2002:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2002 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2002:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2002 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2002:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2002 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2002:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2003:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2003:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2005-4131

URL Tags
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7203336538
http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=174910198
http://news.com.com/2061-10789_3-5988086.html
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5989078.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/19138 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/19238 Vendor Advisory
http://securityreason.com/securityalert/584
http://securityreason.com/securityalert/591
http://securitytracker.com/id?1015333
http://securitytracker.com/id?1015766
http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2006-069.htm
http://www.dicks-blog.com/archives/2005/12/08/excel-vulnerability-for-sale/
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0%2C1759%2C1899697%2C00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000614
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/642428 US Government Resource
http://www.osvdb.org/blog/?p=71
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/427635/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/427698/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/15780 Patch
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11363
http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaking/excel-flaw-up-for-sale-on-ebay/2005/12/09/1134086783318.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/10/ebay_pulls_excel_vulnerability_auction/
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA06-073A.html US Government Resource
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2006/0950 Vendor Advisory
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2006/ms06-012
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/23537
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