Full Report
In 2009, LevelBlue Vice President of Security Research Ziv Mador and Cristian Craioveanu worked at the Microsoft Malware Team and documented a notable code injection vulnerability on certain versions of Windows PowerPoint (Windows PowerPoint 2000 SP3, 2002 SP3, and 2003 SP3, and PowerPoint in Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac.)
Analysis Summary
# Vulnerability: Microsoft PowerPoint Code Injection Vulnerability (2009)
## CVE Details
- CVE ID: CVE-2009-0556
- CVSS Score: N/A (Score not provided in the summary context)
- CWE: N/A (Weakness type not explicitly detailed in the summary context, implied to be code injection/memory corruption)
## Affected Systems
- Products: Microsoft PowerPoint (Windows and Mac versions)
- Versions:
- Windows PowerPoint 2000 SP3
- Windows PowerPoint 2002 SP3
- Windows PowerPoint 2003 SP3
- PowerPoint in Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac
- Configurations: N/A
## Vulnerability Description
A code injection vulnerability was documented by LevelBlue researchers (Ziv Mador and Cristian Craioveanu) in 2009 while they were part of the Microsoft Malware Team. The flaw existed in specific older versions of Windows PowerPoint and PowerPoint for Mac, potentially allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code upon processing malicious input (likely a specially crafted presentation file).
## Exploitation
- Status: The article describes the documentation of the flaw in 2009 (implying existence/discovery at that time). Specific exploitation status (PoC available/in the wild) is not detailed here. Based on context, assume historic PoC discovery.
- Complexity: Not specified.
- Attack Vector: Likely File/Mailing (Interaction with a malicious PowerPoint file).
## Impact
- Confidentiality: Not specified (Likely High due to RCE potential).
- Integrity: Not specified (Likely High due to RCE potential).
- Availability: Not specified (Likely High due to RCE potential).
## Remediation
### Patches
*Note: Since this vulnerability dates back to 2009, active patching is presumed to rely on applying legacy security updates released by Microsoft years ago.*
Specific patch details are not listed in the provided text, but mitigation would have been addressed via Microsoft Security Bulletins corresponding to the 2009 timeframe for the mentioned Office versions (e.g., MS09-XX).
### Workarounds
The provided text fragment does not list specific workarounds for this historical vulnerability, it focuses on general advice regarding unsupported, end-of-life systems:
- Strict isolation: Associated risk must be managed through strict isolation.
- Segmentation: These systems should be segmented from the enterprise network.
- Network Exposure: Should never be exposed to the public Internet.
- Compensating Controls: Apply compensating controls when patching is no longer feasible.
## Detection
- Indicators of Compromise (IOCs): Not specified in the provided text.
- Detection methods and tools: Not specified in the provided text, although modern EDR/MDR solutions (like those offered by LevelBlue) should possess signatures for older exploitation techniques targeting these known flaws.
## References
- Vendor Advisories: Microsoft (Exact Bulletin ID not provided)
- Relevant links - defanged:
- levelblue dot com/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/cve-2009-0556-the-2009-powerpoint-but-that-refuses-to-die