CVE-2012-1856 — Microsoft Office MSCOMCTL.OCX Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

The TabStrip ActiveX control in the Common Controls in MSCOMCTL.OCX in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3, Office 2003 Web Components SP3, Office 2007 SP2 and SP3, Office 2010 SP1, SQL Server 2000 SP4, SQL Server 2005 SP4, SQL Server 2008 SP2, SP3, R2, R2 SP1, and R2 SP2, Commerce Server

01What is this vulnerability?

The TabStrip ActiveX control in the Common Controls in MSCOMCTL.OCX in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3, Office 2003 Web Components SP3, Office 2007 SP2 and SP3, Office 2010 SP1, SQL Server 2000 SP4, SQL Server 2005 SP4, SQL Server 2008 SP2, SP3, R2, R2 SP1, and R2 SP2, Commerce Server 2002 SP4, Commerce Server 2007 SP2, Commerce Server 2009 Gold and R2, Host Integration Server 2004 SP1, Visual FoxPro…

02Affected products

Vendor	Product	Versions
n	a / n/a	n/a

03Active exploitation status

Yes — actively exploited. Added to the CISA KEV catalog on 2022-03-03. Ransomware use: Unknown.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Open the Sigma generator with a pre-filled prompt for this CVE to draft a starting detection in your stack of choice:

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07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2012-08-15T01:00:00.000Z
• Last modified: 2025-10-22T00:05:46.865Z
• Added to CISA KEV: 2022-03-03
• BOD 22-01 due: 2022-03-24

09References

• docs.microsoft.com — https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2012/ms12-06…
• oval.cisecurity.org — https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3…
• www.us-cert.gov — http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA12-227A.html
• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/54948