CVE-2012-2539 — Microsoft Word Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Microsoft Word 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2 and SP3, and 2010 SP1; Word Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack SP2 and SP3; and Office Web Apps 2010 SP1 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via crafted RTF data, aka "Word RTF &#x

01What is this vulnerability?

Microsoft Word 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2 and SP3, and 2010 SP1; Word Viewer; Office Compatibility Pack SP2 and SP3; and Office Web Apps 2010 SP1 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via crafted RTF data, aka "Word RTF 'listoverridecount' Remote Code Execution Vulnerability."

02Affected products

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

03Active exploitation status

Yes — actively exploited. Added to the CISA KEV catalog on 2022-03-28. 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: 2012-12-12T00:00:00.000Z
• Last modified: 2025-10-22T00:05:45.640Z
• Added to CISA KEV: 2022-03-28
• BOD 22-01 due: 2022-04-18

09References

• www.us-cert.gov — http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA12-346A.html
• docs.microsoft.com — https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2012/ms12-07…
• oval.cisecurity.org — https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3…