CVE-2009-0238

Exp

Microsoft Office Excel 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 SP1; Excel Viewer 2003 Gold and SP3; Excel Viewer; Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP1; and Excel in Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Excel document that triggers an access attempt on an invalid object, as exploited in the wild in February 2009 by Trojan.Mdropper.AC.

Published: 2009-02-25 Last update: 2026-04-22 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2009-0238 is rated Critical Active Threat (92.7/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 72.86%, 99th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2026-04-14) affecting Microsoft / Office. a weakness (CWE-94) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

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

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2009-0238

Name: Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2026-04-14

Action due: 2026-04-28

Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2009-0238

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 2026-05-22 74.91% 72.86% -2.05%
2 2026-04-23 81.14% 74.91% -6.23%
3 2026-04-15 — 81.14% —

Full EPSS history (30 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2009-0238

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
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-2009-0238

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2009-0238

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft excel 2000 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2000:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2002 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2002:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2003:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2007:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel_viewer — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel_viewer:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office_excel_viewer — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_excel_viewer:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office_excel_viewer 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_excel_viewer:2003:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2009-0238

URL Tags
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2658 Broken Link
http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5923 Press/Media Coverage
http://securitytracker.com/id?1021744 Broken Link
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx Vendor Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/33870 Broken Link
http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-022310-4202-99 Broken Link
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-104A.html US Government Resource
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1023 Broken Link
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-009 Vendor Advisory
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/48875 Third Party Advisory
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A5968 Broken Link
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2009-0238 US Government Resource
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