Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2012-1854
CVE-2012-1854
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) vulnerability
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications contains an insecure library loading vulnerability enabling remote code execution through improper DLL loading.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An attacker can exploit insecure library loading in VBA to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the application using VBA, potentially compromising systems running Office or other VBA-enabled applications.
CISA KEV Yes · 2026-04-134EPSS 0.21028 (verify live)5CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
3 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 2026-04-13).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.21028 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Microsoft, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-426 Untrusted Search Path.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 5025 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
WeaknessCWE-426 · Untrusted Search Path
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 DLL and place it in a location where VBA will search for libraries during normal loading.
Business
An attacker gains ability to execute code in the context of any user opening a VBA-enabled document or application.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I distribute a document or file that triggers VBA library loading, causing the system to load my malicious DLL instead of the legitimate library.
Business
Widespread compromise becomes possible through email attachments or file-sharing mechanisms, affecting multiple users across an organization.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I establish persistent access or deploy additional malware payloads after initial code execution.
Business
Systems become subject to data theft, lateral movement, or long-term compromise without user awareness.
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