CVE DATABASE / CVE-2009-0556
CVE-2009-0556
Microsoft Office PowerPoint Code Injection Vulnerability
Confirmed exploited in the wild. Added 2026-01-07.
Federal remediation due 2026-01-28.
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.
Summary
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, and 2003 SP3, and PowerPoint in Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a PowerPoint file with an OutlineTextRefAtom containing an an invalid index value that triggers memory corruption, as exploited in the wild in April 2009 by Exploit:Win32/Apptom.gen, aka "Memory Corruption Vulnerability."
CVSS 3.1 breakdown
| Base score | 8.8 (HIGH) |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| Attack vector | NETWORK |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | NONE |
| User interaction | REQUIRED |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | HIGH |
| Integrity | HIGH |
| Availability | HIGH |
Weakness type (CWE)
Affected products
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References
- http://blogs.technet.com/mmpc/archive/2009/04/02/new-0-day-exploits-using-powerpoint-files.aspx
- http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2009/04/02/microsoft-security-advisory-969136.aspx
- http://blogs.technet.com/srd/archive/2009/04/02/investigating-the-new-powerpoint-issue.aspx
- http://osvdb.org/53182
- http://secunia.com/advisories/34572
- http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/627331
- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/969136.mspx
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/503453/100/0/threaded
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/34351
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1021967
- http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-132A.html
- http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/0915
- http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1290
- http://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-09-019
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-017
Data: NIST NVD + CISA KEV. NVD last modified 2026-04-22. Always verify against the vendor advisory before acting.