CVE-2009-0238Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution

Patch nowHigh8.8ExploitedEPSS 43%

CVE-2009-0238 is a code injection in Microsoft Office, rated high (8.8 on CVSS 3.1).

Why this priority: Exploited in the wild: listed in CISA's KEV catalog.

Published 25 Feb 2009 · Updated 16 Jun 2026 · NVD status: Analyzed

What it is

Input is evaluated as code by the application, so an attacker's code runs inside it.

How it is reached

An attacker can exploit it over the network, without an account, but someone has to act first, such as opening a file or following a link.

What an attacker gains

A successful attack can read the data it protects, change data or behaviour and take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker run commands or code with the privileges of the affected service.

Is it being exploited?

CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-04-14: it is being exploited in the wild. EPSS estimates a 43% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 99% of scored CVEs.

What to do

Treat it as urgent: it is on CISA's KEV list. CISA's deadline for US federal agencies: 2026-04-28.
No fixed version is listed yet. Find every place Microsoft Office runs, watch the references for a fix, and plan a replacement if it is no longer supported.
While there is no fix, keep it off the internet or behind a VPN, allowlist or authenticating proxy.
Warn the people who use it, and filter files and links on the way in.
Check exposed instances for signs of compromise, not only for the version.

Description from NVD

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.

What this means for your architecture.

A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.

Components it touches

Application servers and the hosts they run on. The flaw sits between untrusted input and code or command execution.
Template engines. The flaw sits between untrusted input and code or command execution.

Trust boundaries in play

Internet-facing entry points. No account is needed. Any instance reachable from outside your perimeter, through a load balancer, gateway, VPN or exposed admin port, is in scope.
People who open files and links. Mail, chat and browsers are the delivery path.
Between untrusted input and code or command execution. An attacker who crosses it can run commands or code with the privileges of the affected service.

Questions to answer about your own systems

Where does Microsoft Office run in your systems, and at which version?
Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?

See how Veriom maps an architecture Take the interactive tour

Advisories

Sources

CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.