CVE-2009-0238: Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution
- Is it exploited?
Yes. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on , 6,257 days after the CVE record was published.
- How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?
- 42.9%
EPSS score, percentile 98.7 of all scored records
- How severe?
- 8.8 High
CVSS v3.1 base score, from CISA's enrichment of the record
- What should I do?
CISA deadline . Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
- Which versions are affected?
Not stated. The CVE record gives vendor and product as “n/a” and the version as “unspecified”.
Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of ; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of ; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of . About the data.
What to do
Required action, set by CISA
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
CISA due date for this action: .
Advisories and patches
Linked from CISA's catalog entry
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-009
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-0238
Affected products and versions
The CVE record does not name affected products or versions: vendor and product are “n/a” and the version is “unspecified”.
Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of . About the data.
About this vulnerability
Microsoft Office Excel contains a remote code execution vulnerability that could allow an attacker to take complete control of an affected system if a user opens a specially crafted Excel file that includes a malformed object.
Summary: CISA's KEV catalog, as of .
- CISA added CVE-2009-0238 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 14 Apr 2026.
- CISA's ransomware flag for this entry is "Unknown": no evidence of ransomware use in the catalog, which is not proof of none.
- The due date CISA sets for the required action is 28 Apr 2026.
- The CVE record was published on 25 Feb 2009, 6,257 days before it was added to KEV.
- The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (High), taken from CISA's enrichment of the record.
- FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 42.9% (percentile 98.7), as of 28 Oct 2026.
- CISA's SSVC assessment in the CVE record: exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact total.
Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of ; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of ; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of . About the data.
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.
Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of . About the data.
Weakness
- CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record and the KEV entry.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| CVE record published | |
| Added to CISA KEV | |
| CVE record last updated | |
| CISA due date for the required action |
References
- TA09-104A
- ADV-2009-1023
- ms-excel-unspecified-code-execution(48875)
- 33870
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:5968
- 1021744
- microsoft.com
- symantec.com
- isc.sans.org
- blogs.zdnet.com
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