CVE-2012-2539

Exp

Microsoft Word 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2 and SP3, and 2010 SP1; Word Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack SP2 and SP3; and Office Web Apps 2010 SP1 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via crafted RTF data, aka "Word RTF 'listoverridecount' Remote Code Execution Vulnerability."

Published: 2012-12-11 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-2539 is rated Critical Active Threat (91.1/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 53.16%, 99th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2022-03-28) affecting Microsoft / Word. a weakness (CWE-787) 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-2012-2539

Name: Microsoft Word Remote Code Execution Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2022-03-28

Action due: 2022-04-18

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2012-2539

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 2026-06-16 52.88% 53.16% +0.28%
2 2026-06-15 84.41% 52.88% -31.54%
3 2026-02-24 — 84.41% —

Full EPSS history (25 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-2539

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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.
 1.8 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-2012-2539

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-2539

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft office_compatibility_pack — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_compatibility_pack:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office_compatibility_pack — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_compatibility_pack:-:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office_web_apps 2010 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_web_apps:2010:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office_word_viewer — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_word_viewer:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft sharepoint_server 2010 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:sharepoint_server:2010:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft word 2003 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:word:2003:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft word 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:word:2007:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft word 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:word:2007:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft word 2010 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:word:2010:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-2539

cvelogic Threat Intelligence