Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-002 - Critical

Patch Available for "Malformed Conversion Data" Vulnerability

Published: January 20, 2000

Version: 1.0

Originally Posted: January 20, 2000

Summary

Microsoft has released a patch that eliminates a security vulnerability in a utility that converts Japanese, Korean and Chinese Word 5 documents to more-recent formats. The primary shipment vehicles for the utility are the Japanese, Korean and Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional) versions of Word and PowerPoint for Windows. (A comprehensive listing of affected products is provided below) The vulnerability could allow arbitrary code to be executed on a machine that opened a specially modified Word 5 document using an affected version of the utility.

Frequently asked questions regarding this vulnerability can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/fq00-002.mspx

General Information

Issue

Microsoft Office includes a conversion utility that converts older Word documents to more recent formats. The conversion utility for Word 5 documents in East Asian languages (Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese) has an unchecked buffer. By using a hexadecimal editor to insert specially malformed information into a document, a malicious user could cause Word to run code of his or her choice when the document was opened using an affected version of the converter.

A Word 5 converter installs by default as part of Word and PowerPoint, and can be installed at user behest as part of a converter pack. However, the vulnerability affects only the East Asian language versions of the converter, and only the Windows versions of them. No other language versions of the converter are affected, and no version of the converter for Macintosh is affected.

Affected Software Versions

Microsoft Converter Pack 2000 for Windows
Microsoft Office 2000 for Windows with Multilanguage pack
Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) versions of:
- Microsoft Word 97, 98 and 2000 for Windows, which is available as a standalone product or as part of:
  - Office 97, Office 97 Powered by Word 98, Office 2000 for Windows
  - Works Suite 2000 for Windows
- Microsoft PowerPoint 97 and 2000 for Windows, which is available as a standalone product or as part of:
  - Office 97, Office 97 Powered by Word 98, Office 2000 for Windows

Vulnerability Identifier: CVE-2000-0088

Patch Availability

U.S.:

Word 97 or 98, PowerPoint 98:
https://office.microsoft.com/downloads/9798/ww5pkg.aspx
Converter Pack 2000; Office 2000 with Multilanguage Pack; Word 2000, PowerPoint 2000: https://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/WW5Pkg.aspx

Japan:

Word 97 or 98, PowerPoint 98:
https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/japan/downloaddetails/MalformedData-97.htm
Converter Pack 2000; Office 2000 with Multilanguage Pack; Word 2000, PowerPoint 2000: https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/japan/downloaddetails/ 2000/MalformedData-2K.htm

Korea:

Word 97 or 98, PowerPoint 98:
https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/korea/downloaddetails/ MalformedData-97.htm
Converter Pack 2000; Office 2000 with Multilanguage Pack; Word 2000, PowerPoint 2000:
https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/korea/downloaddetails/ 2000/MalformedData-2K.htm

China:

Word 97 or 98, PowerPoint 98:
https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/china/downloaddetails/ MalformedData-97.htm
Converter Pack 2000; Office 2000 with Multilanguage Pack; Word 2000, PowerPoint 2000: https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/china/downloaddetails/2000/ MalformedData-2K.htm

Taiwan:

Word 97 or 98, PowerPoint 98:
https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/taiwan/downloaddetails/ MalformedData-97.htm
Converter Pack 2000; Office 2000 with Multilanguage Pack; Word 2000, PowerPoint 2000: https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/taiwan/downloaddetails/ 2000/MalformedData-2K.htm

Hong Kong:

Word 97 or 98, PowerPoint 98:
https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/hk/downloaddetails/ MalformedData-97.htm
Converter Pack 2000; Office 2000 with Multilanguage Pack; Word 2000, PowerPoint 2000: https://officeupdate.microsoft.com/hk/downloaddetails/ 2000/MalformedData-2K.htm

NOTE: Additional security patches are available at the Microsoft Download Center

More Information

Please see the following references for more information related to this issue.

Frequently Asked Questions: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS00-002
Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article 249881, WD: Patch Available for "Malformed Conversion Data" Vulnerability (East Asian Word), https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;249881
(Note: It may take 24 hours from the original posting of this bulletin for this KB article to be visible.)
Microsoft Security web site, https://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/default.mspx.

Obtaining Support on this Issue

This is a fully supported patch. Information on contacting Microsoft Technical Support is available at https://support.microsoft.com/contactussupport/?ws=support.

Revisions

January 20, 2000: Bulletin Created.

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