MS Word May Run Arbitrary Code via MS Access DB

Word's mail merge functionality can be used to cause arbitrary code to run on a system by using an MS Access 2000 database as the input for the merge operation.

ITPro Today Staff

August 6, 2000

1 Min Read
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Reported August 7, 2000 by Georgi Guninski

VERSIONS EFFECTED

Microsoft Word

  • Microsoft Access 2000

DESCRIPTION

According to the discoverer's report, Microsoft Word can accept an MS Access 2000 database as input for a mail merge operation. However, the database file could contain Visual Basic code that could be made to run when the database is opened by MS Word. Such code could perform actions on the system without the user's knowledge. 

DEMONSTRATION

Sample files are available at Georgi's Web site:
http://www.nat.bg/~joro/wordaccess.doc
http://www.nat.bg/~joro/db4.mdb

VENDOR RESPONSE

Microsoft is aware of the issue however no response was known at the time of this writing.

CREDIT
Discovered by Georgi Guninski

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