Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2015-1642
CVE-2015-1642
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Microsoft Office vulnerability
Microsoft Office memory corruption vulnerability allows remote code execution through crafted documents. Actively exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A memory corruption flaw in Microsoft Office enables attackers to execute arbitrary code by delivering malicious documents to users. The vulnerability has demonstrated real-world exploitation and poses significant risk to organizations relying on Office for document processing.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
4 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.53213 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Microsoft, Office. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-119 Memory Buffer Bounds Error — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious Office document designed to trigger a memory corruption condition.
Business
Attackers gain a delivery mechanism for code execution targeting the broad Office user base.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I distribute the document via email or web hosting to target users.
Business
User trust in document formats is exploited; opening files becomes a direct attack vector.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Office application and logged-in user.
Business
Attackers establish initial system compromise, enabling lateral movement and data exfiltration.
4
Data at risk — exfiltration narrative 4
Attacker
I maintain persistence and expand access across the compromised environment.
Business
Organizations face prolonged breach dwell time, increased forensic complexity, and expanded incident scope.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05