Check Point Advisories

Microsoft Excel Cell Length Buffer Overflow (CVE-2004-0846)

Vulnerability
Protection

Check Point Reference:	CPAI-2004-0223
Date Published:	26 Mar 2015
Severity:	High
Last Updated:	Wednesday 15 November, 2023
Source:
Industry Reference:	CVE-2004-0846
Protection Provided by:	Security Gateway R81, R80, R77, R75
Who is Vulnerable?
Vulnerability Description	Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application released by the Microsoft Corporation. Its native file format is the Binary Interchange File Format (BIFF), which is available in several versions. An Excel file contains information about the various spreadsheets that form an Excel workbook, the data and macros that populate spreadsheet cells, and so on. The commonly used file extension of Excel file is ".xls". There exists a buffer overflow vulnerability in Microsoft Excel. The vulnerability is caused by an improper validation of certain record in Excel spreadsheet files. An attacker may exploit this vulnerability by enticing a user to open a crafted Excel file, which will enable the attacker to inject and execute arbitrary code within the security context of the target user. In case of an attack where code injection is not successful, all instances of the vulnerable Microsoft Excel application will terminate. This can potentially lead to a loss of data. In case of an attack where code injection and execution is successful, the behavior of the target is entirely dependent on the intended function of the injected code. The code in such a case would execute within the security context of the current user.

Protection Overview

This protection will detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability.

In order for the protection to be activated, update your Security Gateway product to the latest IPS update. For information on how to update IPS, go to SBP-2006-05, click on Protection tab and select the version of your choice.

Security Gateway R81 / R80 / R77 / R75

In the IPS tab, click Protections and find the Microsoft Excel Cell Length Buffer Overflow (CVE-2004-0846) protection using the Search tool and Edit the protection's settings.
Install policy on all Security Gateways.

This protection's log will contain the following information:

Attack Name: Content Protection Violation.
Attack Information: Microsoft Excel Cell Length Buffer Overflow (CVE-2004-0846)