Software Engineering Institute

Microsoft Word contains a memory corruption vulnerability. According to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-027:

When a user opens a specially crafted Word document using a malformed object pointer, it may corrupt system memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code.
Office documents can contain embedded objects. For example, a malicious Word document could be embedded in an Excel or PowerPoint document. Office documents other than Word documents could be used as attack vectors.

For more information, including a complete list of affected software refer to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-027

Note that working exploit code is available for this vulnerability.

By convincing a user to open a specially crafted Word document, an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running Word. If the user is logged in with administrative privileges, the attacker could take complete control of a vulnerable system.

Apply a patch from Microsoft
Microsoft addresses this vulnerability with the updates listed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-027.

Do not open untrusted Word documents

Do not open unfamiliar or unexpected Word or other Office documents, particularly those hosted on web sites or delivered as email attachments. Please see Cyber Security Tip ST04-010 for more information.

Consult Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-027 and Microsoft Security Advisory (919637)

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-027 and Microsoft Security Advisory (919637) list workarounds to reduce the chances of exploitation, including

• Run Word in Safe Mode (winword.exe /safe)
• Do not use Word as the email editor in Outlook