Microsoft · Excel
CVE-2009-3129
Microsoft Excel Featheader Record Memory Corruption Vulnerability
What it is
Microsoft Office Excel 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 SP1 and SP2; Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac; Open XML File Format Converter for Mac; Office Excel Viewer 2003 SP3; Office Excel Viewer SP1 and SP2; and Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP1 and SP2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a spreadsheet with a FEATHEADER record containing an invalid cbHdrData size element that affects a pointer offset, aka "Excel Featheader Record Memory Corruption Vulnerability."
CISA: Microsoft Office Excel allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a spreadsheet with a FEATHEADER record containing an invalid cbHdrData size element that affects a pointer offset.
What to do
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Deadline for US federal agencies: March 24, 2022
- Added to the CISA list
- March 3, 2022
- Published
- November 11, 2009
- Severity
- High 7.8 CVSS 3.1
- Chance of attacks in the next 30 days (EPSS)
- 84% in the top 0.3% of all known vulnerabilities
- Weakness
- CWE-94
- More details
- NVD · CVE.org · CISA
All references (10)
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-067
- http://osvdb.org/59860
- https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A6521
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1023157
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/36945
- http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-314A.html
- http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/display.php?id=832
- http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2009-11/0080.html
- http://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-09-083
- http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/14706
More exploited flaws from Microsoft
| Added | Vulnerability | Product | Severity | Attack chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 3, 2022 | Office Security Feature Bypass | Excel | High 7.8 | 58% |
| Mar 3, 2022 | Remote Code Execution | Excel | High 8.8 | 22% |
| Oct 13, 2026 | Command Injection | Windows | High 8.8 | 9.8% |
| Sep 25, 2026 | Code Injection | SharePoint | High 8.8 | 8.2% |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Link Following | Windows | High 7.8 | 0.4% |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Heap-Based Buffer Overflow | Windows | High 7.8 | 0.4% |
| Aug 26, 2026 | Remote Code Execution | SQL Server | High 8.8 | 57% |
| Aug 18, 2026 | Double Free | Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Service Extensions | Critical 9.8 | 77% |
Sources: Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (CISA, public domain), CVE records (cve.org) and EPSS (FIRST). The chance of attacks is the EPSS estimate that someone will try to exploit the flaw in the next 30 days.