CVE-2008-3471

Stack-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Excel 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP2 and SP3, and 2007 Gold and SP1; Office Excel Viewer 2003 SP3; Office Excel Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats Gold and SP1; Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac; and Open XML File Format Converter for Mac allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a BIFF file with a malformed record that triggers a user-influenced size calculation, aka "File Format Parsing Vulnerability."

Published: 2008-10-15 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2008-3471 is rated High Risk (66.8/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 52.32%, 99th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2008-3471

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 2026-06-15 73.24% 52.32% -20.92%
2 2026-02-28 66.32% 73.24% +6.92%
3 2026-01-22 66.32%

Full EPSS history (24 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2008-3471

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2008-3471

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2008-3471

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft excel 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2003:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2003:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2007:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2007:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel_viewer cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel_viewer:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel_viewer 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel_viewer:2003:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel_viewer 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel_viewer:2003:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office 2004 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2004:*:*:*:*:macos:*:*
microsoft office 2008 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2008:*:*:*:*:macos:*:*
microsoft office_compatibility_pack 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_compatibility_pack:2007:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office_compatibility_pack 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_compatibility_pack:2007:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft open_xml_file_format_converter cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:open_xml_file_format_converter:-:*:*:*:*:macos:*:*

References for CVE-2008-3471

URL Tags
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=122479227205998&w=2 Issue Tracking Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/32211 Patch Vendor Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/31705 Patch Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1021044 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA08-288A.html Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2808 Third Party Advisory
http://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-08-068/ Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2008/ms08-057 Patch Vendor Advisory
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/45579 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/45581 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A5750 Third Party Advisory
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