Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A malicious Excel spreadsheet could crash affected Microsoft Office components or run code on a user’s machine. The business risk is highest where older Office versions, Excel Viewer, or compatibility converters remain in use and users can receive or open untrusted spreadsheets.
Executive priority
Treat this as a legacy-software risk with high impact if affected versions remain. Prioritize discovery and remediation over emergency response unless internal evidence shows suspicious spreadsheet activity or exposed legacy Office deployments.
Technical view
The sources describe improper validation of record information during Excel spreadsheet parsing, causing memory corruption through out-of-bounds array access. A crafted spreadsheet can lead to arbitrary code execution or denial of service in the listed Excel, Office for Mac, Viewer, Converter, and Compatibility Pack components.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in legacy environments still running the affected Microsoft Office and Excel components named in the CVE description, including Excel 2002, 2003, 2007, Office for Mac 2004/2008, Excel Viewer, and related converters.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. It describes a remote attacker using a crafted spreadsheet, so exposure depends on whether users can open attacker-supplied Excel files on vulnerable software.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to CVE, Microsoft bulletin, and OVAL references. No CVSS, CWE, or KEV signal is provided in the bundle. Avoid assuming active exploitation; focus validation on version presence, patch state, and document-ingress controls.
Mitigation direction
- Apply Microsoft guidance and updates referenced in MS11-045.
- Retire or upgrade unsupported Office and Excel components where possible.
- Restrict opening untrusted spreadsheets on legacy systems.
- Use email and web controls to quarantine unexpected spreadsheet attachments.
- Prioritize systems used for external documents or high-value workflows.
Validation and detection
- Inventory endpoints for the affected Office, Excel, Viewer, and converter versions.
- Check MS11-045 update applicability and installation status.
- Use the OVAL definition as a detection reference where supported.
- Review mail and endpoint telemetry for suspicious spreadsheet handling.
- Confirm legacy systems cannot open untrusted Excel files unchecked.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
Execution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2011-1274 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:12538CVE reference · vdb-entry, signature
- MS11-045CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_MS
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.