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Actively exploited · Published Feb 25, 2009 · Assigned by microsoft

CVE-2009-0238

High 8.8 Exploited

In plain English

A high-severity code injection in Office from Microsoft. Attackers are actively exploiting it in the wild (listed by CISA on April 14, 2026). The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 42.9% (higher than 99% of all known vulnerabilities). Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)8.8High
Exploit odds (30 days)42.9%top 1.3% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildYesCISA KEV since Apr 14, 2026
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

CISA guidance

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Federal agencies must remediate by Apr 28, 2026.

Official 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.

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
n/a n/a n/a

Weakness: CWE-94 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References