CVE-2009-0238
8.8, high Known exploitedMicrosoft Office Remote Code Execution
- CVSS
- 8.8, high high CVSS v3.1
- EPSS, next 30 days
- 43% higher than 98.7% of scored CVEs
- Exploitation
- Confirmed in the wild
- Published
- 25 Feb 200917 years ago
Known exploited
CISA added this to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on 14 Apr 2026. US federal agencies had to remediate by 28 Apr 2026, a deadline that has passed.
Required action. Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Description
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.
Details
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Excel
- Weakness
- CWE-94 (opens in a new tab)
- Status
- Analyzed
- Updated
- 16 Jun 2026
- Assigner
- secure@microsoft.com
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
References 12
Advisories 8
- blogs.zdnet.com /security/?p=2658 (opens in a new tab)
- securitytracker.com /id?1021744 (opens in a new tab)
- microsoft.com /technet/security/advisory/968272.mspx (opens in a new tab)
- securityfocus.com /bid/33870 (opens in a new tab)
- symantec.com /business/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-022310-4202-99 (opens in a new tab)
- docs.microsoft.com /en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-009 (opens in a new tab)
- exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com /vulnerabilities/48875 (opens in a new tab)
- oval.cisecurity.org /repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A5968 (opens in a new tab)
The kind is read from NVD's tags where present and from the shape of the URL otherwise, so treat it as a hint.
Other Microsoft CVEs
Every Microsoft CVE we holdSame vendor in what we hold, not a known link between the flaws.
- CVE-2026-96951 Microsoft Windows Command Injection Vulnerability KEV EPSS 2% 8.8, high
- CVE-2026-81963 Microsoft Windows Link Following Vulnerability KEV EPSS 0.4% 7.8, high
- CVE-2026-85880 Microsoft Windows Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability KEV EPSS 4% 7.8, high
- CVE-2026-65660 Microsoft SharePoint Code Injection Vulnerability KEV EPSS 2% 8.8, high
- CVE-2026-68820 Microsoft Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Use-After-Free Vulnerability KEV EPSS 0.3% 7, high
- CVE-2026-50522 Microsoft SharePoint Deserialization of Untrusted Data Vulnerability KEV EPSS 3% 9.8, critical
- CVE-2026-56155 Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services Insufficient Granularity of Access Control Vulnerability KEV EPSS 0.3% 7.8, high
- CVE-2026-56164 Microsoft SharePoint Server Missing Authentication for Critical Function Vulnerability KEV EPSS 1% 9.8, critical
Beyond this page
Is CVE-2009-0238 in your network?
This page tells you how dangerous CVE-2009-0238 is out there. Whether it sits on one of your devices, only a scan of your own network can tell. That is what our systems do, every day, for the companies we protect.
CVE-2009-0238 is in the CISA catalogue of exploited vulnerabilities: attackers are already exploiting it.
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EXYS7600 OCELOT
Find it before attackers do
Ocelot scans your network on a schedule and reports every vulnerability it finds by its CVE identifier, with its CVSS score and how many of your hosts are affected. A finding like CVE-2009-0238 comes with the devices to patch.
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EXYS7950 KONDRA
Detect it if it's exploited
Until the patch is applied, Kondra monitors your network, events and endpoints in real time. It keeps an inventory of the software installed on every endpoint, and its anomaly detection rules flag what an attacker does once inside.
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Assembled from the NVD 2.0 API, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog and FIRST EPSS. Scores are as of our last collection on 16 Oct 2026, not the live upstream state.