Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2015-1642
CVE-2015-1642
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
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.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-03-034EPSS 0.53213 (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
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
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Microsoft, Office. 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-119 Memory Buffer Bounds Error — weakness family: Memory safety.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 2392 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.
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