CVE-2012-0158

Exp

The (1) ListView, (2) ListView2, (3) TreeView, and (4) TreeView2 ActiveX controls in MSCOMCTL.OCX in the Common Controls in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2 and SP3, and 2010 Gold and SP1; Office 2003 Web Components SP3; SQL Server 2000 SP4, 2005 SP4, and 2008 SP2, SP3, and R2; BizTalk Server 2002 SP1; Commerce Server 2002 SP4, 2007 SP2, and 2009 Gold and R2; Visual FoxPro 8.0 SP1 and 9.0 SP2; and Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted (a) web site, (b) Office document, or (c) .rtf file that triggers "system state" corruption, as exploited in the wild in April 2012, aka "MSCOMCTL.OCX RCE Vulnerability."

Published: 2012-04-10 Last update: 2026-04-22 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-0158 is rated Critical Active Threat (92.2/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 94.32%, 100th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2021-11-03) affecting Microsoft / MSCOMCTL.OCX. 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-2012-0158

Name: Microsoft MSCOMCTL.OCX Remote Code Execution Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2021-11-03

Action due: 2022-05-03

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2012-0158

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
18780 exploit_db edb 2012-04-25 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2012-0158

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 2025-03-17 97.28% 94.32% -2.96%
2 2025-03-09 97.05% 97.28% +0.23%
3 2025-01-18 — 97.05% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-0158

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 [email protected]
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-2012-0158

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-0158

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft office 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2003:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2007:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2007:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office 2010 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2010:-:*:*:*:*:x86:*
microsoft office 2010 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2010:sp1:*:*:*:*:x86:*
microsoft office_web_components 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_web_components:2003:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft sql_server_2000 — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sql_server_2000:-:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft sql_server_2005 — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sql_server_2005:-:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft sql_server_2008 — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sql_server_2008:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft sql_server_2008 — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sql_server_2008:-:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft sql_server_2008 r2 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sql_server_2008:r2:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft sql_server_2008 r2 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sql_server_2008:r2:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft biztalk_server 2002 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:biztalk_server:2002:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft commerce_server 2002 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:commerce_server:2002:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft commerce_server 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:commerce_server:2007:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft commerce_server_2009 — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:commerce_server_2009:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft commerce_server_2009 r2 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:commerce_server_2009:r2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft visual_basic 6.0 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visual_basic:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft visual_foxpro 8.0 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visual_foxpro:8.0:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft visual_foxpro 9.0 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visual_foxpro:9.0:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-0158

URL Tags
http://opensources.info/comment-on-the-curious-case-of-a-cve-2012-0158-exploit-by-chris-pierce/ Broken Link
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/52911 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1026899 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1026900 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1026902 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1026903 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1026904 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1026905 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA12-101A.html Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2012/ms12-027 Patch Vendor Advisory
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/74372 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A15462 Broken Link
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2012-0158 US Government Resource
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