Security Bulletin

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-096 - Important

Vulnerability in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2640241)

Published: December 13, 2011 | Updated: December 21, 2011

Version: 1.1

General Information

Executive Summary

This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Office. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Excel file. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. Installing and configuring Office File Validation (OFV) to prevent the opening of suspicious files blocks the attack vectors for exploiting the vulnerabilities described in CVE-2011-3403. See the section, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Related to This Security Update, for more information about how the Office File Validation feature can be configured to block the attack vectors.

This security update is rated Important for all supported editions of Microsoft Excel 2003 and Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.

The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the way that Microsoft Excel manages objects in memory. For more information about the vulnerabilities, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.

Recommendation. Customers can configure automatic updating to check online for updates from Microsoft Update by using the Microsoft Update service. Customers who have automatic updating enabled and configured to check online for updates from Microsoft Update typically will not need to take any action because this security update will be downloaded and installed automatically. Customers who have not enabled automatic updating need to check for updates from Microsoft Update and install this update manually. For information about specific configuration options in automatic updating in supported editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 294871. For information about automatic updating in supported editions of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2, see Understanding Windows automatic updating.

For administrators and enterprise installations, or end users who want to install this security update manually, Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update at the earliest opportunity using update management software, or by checking for updates using the Microsoft Update service.

See also the section, Detection and Deployment Tools and Guidance, later in this bulletin.

Known Issues. Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2640241 documents the currently known issues that customers may experience when installing this security update. The article also documents recommended solutions for these issues.

Affected and Non-Affected Software

The following software have been tested to determine which versions or editions are affected. Other versions or editions are either past their support life cycle or are not affected. To determine the support life cycle for your software version or edition, visit Microsoft Support Lifecycle.

Affected Software

Non-Affected Software 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Related to This Security Update

Where are the file information details?
Refer to the reference tables in the Security Update Deployment section for the location of the file information details.

Where are the file information details?
Refer to the reference tables in the Security Update Deployment section for the location of the file information details.

Why is this update only rated Important for all affected versions of Excel?
Microsoft Excel 2002 and later versions have a built-in feature that prompts a user to Open, Save, or Cancel before opening a document. This mitigating factor reduces the vulnerability from Critical to Important because the vulnerability requires more than a single user action to complete the exploit.

How could the Office File Validation feature help to mitigate the vulnerabilities?
When the Office File Validation feature is enabled in Microsoft Excel 2003, specially crafted files that could be used to exploit the vulnerabilities described in CVE-2011-3403 are not opened automatically; instead, by default, the user is prompted to choose whether or not to open such a file. A user would have to click through the warning to open the file before the vulnerabilities could be exploited. For more information about Office File Validation in Microsoft Excel 2003, see Microsoft Security Advisory 2501584.

What is the benefit if I disable the opening of files that fail file validation in Excel 2003?
By setting Office File Validation to not allow the opening of suspicious files in Excel 2003, the Microsoft Fix it solution, "Disable the opening of documents for Excel 2003 and 2007" available in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2501584, blocks the attack vectors for exploiting the vulnerabilities described in CVE-2011-3403.

Refer to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2501584 for instructions on applying the automated Fix it solution, "Disable the opening of documents for Excel 2003 and 2007," or refer to the Workaround sections for CVE-2011-1986 and CVE-2011-1987 in the Vulnerability Information section of this bulletin for instructions on applying the solution manually.

How areMicrosoft Office standalone programs affected by the vulnerability?
A Microsoft Office standalone program is affected with the same severity rating as the corresponding component in a Microsoft Office Suite. For example, a standalone installation of Microsoft Excel is affected with the same severity rating as an installation of Microsoft Excel that was delivered with a Microsoft Office Suite.

The Microsoft Office component discussed in this article is part of the Microsoft Office Suite that I have installed on my system; however, I did not choose to install this specific component. Will I be offered this update?
Yes, if the component discussed in this bulletin was delivered with the version of the Microsoft Office Suite installed on your system, the system will be offered updates for it whether the component is installed or not. The detection logic used to scan for affected systems is designed to check for updates for all components that were delivered with the particular Microsoft Office Suite and to offer the updates to a system. Users who choose not to apply an update for a component that is not installed, but is delivered with their version of the Microsoft Office Suite, will not increase the security risk of that system. On the other hand, users who do choose to install the update will not have a negative impact on the security or performance of a system.

Does the offer to update a non-vulnerable version of Microsoft Office constitute an issue in the Microsoft update mechanism?
No, the update mechanism is functioning correctly in that it detects a lower version of the files on the system than in the update package and thus, offers the update.

I am using an older release of the software discussed in this security bulletin. What should I do?
The affected software listed in this bulletin have been tested to determine which releases are affected. Other releases are past their support life cycle. For more information about the product lifecycle, visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Web site.

It should be a priority for customers who have older releases of the software to migrate to supported releases to prevent potential exposure to vulnerabilities. To determine the support lifecycle for your software release, see Select a Product for Lifecycle Information. For more information about service packs for these software releases, see Service Pack Lifecycle Support Policy.

Customers who require custom support for older software must contact their Microsoft account team representative, their Technical Account Manager, or the appropriate Microsoft partner representative for custom support options. Customers without an Alliance, Premier, or Authorized Contract can contact their local Microsoft sales office. For contact information, visit the Microsoft Worldwide Information Web site, select the country in the Contact Information list, and then click Go to see a list of telephone numbers. When you call, ask to speak with the local Premier Support sales manager. For more information, see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy FAQ.

Vulnerability Information

Severity Ratings and Vulnerability Identifiers

The following severity ratings assume the potential maximum impact of the vulnerability. For information regarding the likelihood, within 30 days of this security bulletin's release, of the exploitability of the vulnerability in relation to its severity rating and security impact, please see the Exploitability Index in the December bulletin summary. For more information, see Microsoft Exploitability Index.

Record Memory Corruption Vulnerability - CVE-2011-3403

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that Microsoft Excel handles specially crafted Excel files. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

To view this vulnerability as a standard entry in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list, see CVE-2011-3403.

Mitigating Factors for Record Memory Corruption Vulnerability - CVE-2011-3403

Mitigation refers to a setting, common configuration, or general best-practice, existing in a default state, that could reduce the severity of exploitation of a vulnerability. The following mitigating factors may be helpful in your situation:

• In a Web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a Web site that contains a Web page that is used to exploit this vulnerability. In addition, compromised Web sites and Web sites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements could contain specially crafted content that could exploit this vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit these Web sites. Instead, an attacker would have to persuade users to visit the Web site, typically by getting them to click a link in an e-mail message or Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker's Web site.
• An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
• The vulnerability cannot be exploited automatically through e-mail. For an attack to be successful a user must open an attachment that is sent in an e-mail message.

Workarounds for Record Memory Corruption Vulnerability - CVE-2011-3403

Workaround refers to a setting or configuration change that does not correct the underlying vulnerability but would help block known attack vectors before you apply the update. Microsoft has tested the following workarounds and states in the discussion whether a workaround reduces functionality:

• Set Office File Validation to disable the opening of files that fail validation in Excel 2003

  Note Before applying this workaround, Office File Validation must be enabled for your version of Microsoft Office. For information on how to enable Office File Validation in Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office 2007, see the TechNet article, Office File Validation for Office 2003 and Office 2007.

  The following registry scripts can be saved in registry entry (.reg) files and used to disable editing of files that fail file validation. For more information on how to use registry scripts, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 310516.

  Note See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2501584 to use the automated Microsoft Fix it solution to enable or disable this workaround in the appropriate Office software.

  Note Modifying the Registry incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from incorrect modification of the Registry can be solved. Modify the Registry at your own risk.

  Use the registry script that is appropriate for your Office software.

  Microsoft Office Software	Registry Script
  Microsoft Excel 2003	Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00\ \ [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileValidation]\ \ "InvalidFileUIOptions"=dword:00000001

  Impact of workaround. Office File Validation will no longer allow the opening of suspicious files.
  How to undo the workaround.
  Use the appropriate registry script for your software to undo the settings set by this workaround.

  Microsoft Office Software	Registry Script
  Microsoft Excel 2003	Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00\ \ [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileValidation]\ \ "InvalidFileUIOptions"=dword:00000000

• Use Microsoft Office File Block policy to block the opening of Office 2003 and earlier documents from unknown or untrusted sources and locations

  Microsoft Office File Block policy can be used to block specific file format types from opening in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.

  For Microsoft Office 2003

  The following registry scripts can be saved in registry entry (.reg) files and used to set the File Block policy. For more information on how to use registry scripts, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 310516.

  Note In order to use 'FileOpenBlock' with Microsoft Office 2003, all of the latest security updates for Microsoft Office 2003 must be applied.

  Microsoft Office Software	Registry Script
  Microsoft Excel 2003	Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00\ \ [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock]\ \ "BinaryFiles"=dword:00000001

  Impact of workaround. For Microsoft Office 2003, users who have configured the File Block policy and have not configured a special exempt directory or have not moved files to a trusted location will be unable to open Office 2003 files or earlier versions. For more information about the impact of file block setting in Microsoft Office software, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 922850.

  How to undo the workaround.

  For Microsoft Office 2003, use the following registry scripts to undo the settings used to set the File Block policy:

  Microsoft Office Software	Registry Script
  Microsoft Excel 2003	Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00\ \ [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\PowerPoint\Security\FileOpenBlock]\ \ "BinaryFiles"=dword:00000000

• Use the Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) when opening files from unknown or untrusted sources

  Note Modifying the Registry incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from incorrect modification of the Registry can be solved. Modify the Registry at your own risk.

  The Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) helps protect Office 2003 installations by more securely opening Word, Excel, and PowerPoint binary format files.

  To install MOICE, you must have Office 2003 or Office 2007 installed.

  To install MOICE, you must also have the Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. The compatibility pack is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center.

  MOICE requires all updates that are recommended for all Office programs. Visit Microsoft Update to install all recommended updates.

  Enable MOICE

  Note See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 935865 to use the automated Microsoft Fix it solution to enable or disable this workaround.

  To manually enable MOICE, run the commands as specified in the following table. Running the commands will associate the Office application extensions with MOICE.

  Command to enable MOICE to be the registered handler
  For Word, run the following command from a command prompt:\ ASSOC .doc=oice.word.document
  For Excel, run the following commands from a command prompt:\ ASSOC .XLS=oice.excel.sheet\ ASSOC .XLT=oice.excel.template\ ASSOC .XLA=oice.excel.addin
  For PowerPoint, run the following commands from a command prompt:\ ASSOC .PPT=oice.powerpoint.show\ ASSOC .POT=oice.powerpoint.template\ ASSOC .PPS=oice.powerpoint.slideshow

  Note On Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2, run the above commands from an elevated command prompt.

  For more information on MOICE, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 935865.

  Impact of workaround. Office 2003 and earlier formatted documents that are converted to the Microsoft Office 2007 Open XML format by MOICE will not retain macro functionality. Additionally, documents with passwords or that are protected with Digital Rights Management cannot be converted.

  How to undo the workaround. Run the commands to disable MOICE as specified in the table below.

  Command to disable MOICE as the registered handler
  For Word, run the following command from a command prompt:\ ASSOC .doc=Word.Document.8
  For Excel, run the following commands from a command prompt:\ ASSOC .xls=Excel.Sheet.8\ ASSOC .xlt=Excel.Template\ ASSOC .xla=Excel.Addin
  For PowerPoint, run the following commands from a command prompt:\ ASSOC .ppt=PowerPoint.Show.8\ ASSOC .PPS=oice.powerpoint.slideshow\ ASSOC .pps=PowerPoint.SlideShow.8

  Note On Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2, run the above commands from an elevated command prompt.

• Do not open Office files that you receive from untrusted sources or that you receive unexpectedly from trusted sources

  Do not open Office files that you receive from untrusted sources or that you receive unexpectedly from trusted sources. This vulnerability could be exploited when a user opens a specially crafted file.

FAQ for Record Memory Corruption Vulnerability - CVE-2011-3403

What is the scope of the vulnerability?
This is a remote code execution vulnerability. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system remotely. An attacker could then install programs or view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

What causes the vulnerability?
The vulnerability is caused when Microsoft Excel incorrectly handles objects in memory.

What might an attacker use the vulnerability to do?
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code as the logged-on user. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take complete control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

How could an attacker exploit the vulnerability?
Exploitation of this vulnerability requires that a user open a specially crafted Excel file in an affected version of Microsoft Excel.

In an e-mail attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending a specially crafted Excel file to the user and by convincing the user to open the file.

In a Web-based attack scenario, an attacker would have to host a Web site that contains an Excel file that is used to attempt to exploit this vulnerability. In addition, compromised Web sites and Web sites that accept or host user-provided content could contain specially crafted content that could exploit this vulnerability. An attacker would have no way to force users to visit a specially crafted Web site. Instead, an attacker would have to convince them to visit the Web site, typically by getting them to click a link that takes them to the attacker's site, and then convince them to open the specially crafted Excel file.

What systems are primarily at risk from the vulnerability?
Systems where Microsoft Excel is used, such as workstations, are primarily at risk. Servers could be at more risk if administrators allow users to log on to servers and to run programs. However, best practices strongly discourage allowing this.

What does the update do?
The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the way that Microsoft Excel manages objects in memory.

When this security bulletin was issued, had this vulnerability been publicly disclosed?
No. Microsoft received information about this vulnerability through coordinated vulnerability disclosure.

When this security bulletin was issued, had Microsoft received any reports that this vulnerability was being exploited?
No. Microsoft had not received any information to indicate that this vulnerability had been publicly used to attack customers when this security bulletin was originally issued.

Update Information

Detection and Deployment Tools and Guidance

Security Central

Manage the software and security updates you need to deploy to the servers, desktop, and mobile systems in your organization. For more information see the TechNet Update Management Center. The Microsoft TechNet Security Web site provides additional information about security in Microsoft products.

Security updates are available from Microsoft Update and Windows Update. Security updates are also available from the Microsoft Download Center. You can find them most easily by doing a keyword search for "security update."

For customers of Microsoft Office for Mac, Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac can help keep your Microsoft software up to date. For more information about using Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac, see Check for software updates automatically.

Finally, security updates can be downloaded from the Microsoft Update Catalog. The Microsoft Update Catalog provides a searchable catalog of content made available through Windows Update and Microsoft Update, including security updates, drivers and service packs. By searching using the security bulletin number (such as, "MS07-036"), you can add all of the applicable updates to your basket (including different languages for an update), and download to the folder of your choosing. For more information about the Microsoft Update Catalog, see the Microsoft Update Catalog FAQ.

Detection and Deployment Guidance

Microsoft provides detection and deployment guidance for security updates. This guidance contains recommendations and information that can help IT professionals understand how to use various tools for detection and deployment of security updates. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 961747.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) allows administrators to scan local and remote systems for missing security updates as well as common security misconfigurations. For more information about MBSA, visit Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer.

The following table provides the MBSA detection summary for this security update.

Note For customers using legacy software not supported by the latest release of MBSA, Microsoft Update, and Windows Server Update Services, please visit Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and reference the Legacy Product Support section on how to create comprehensive security update detection with legacy tools.

Windows Server Update Services

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) enables information technology administrators to deploy the latest Microsoft product updates to computers that are running the Windows operating system. For more information about how to deploy security updates using Windows Server Update Services, see the TechNet article, Windows Server Update Services.

Systems Management Server

The following table provides the SMS detection and deployment summary for this security update.

Note Microsoft discontinued support for SMS 2.0 on April 12, 2011. For SMS 2003, Microsoft also discontinued support for the Security Update Inventory Tool (SUIT) on April 12, 2011. Customers are encouraged to upgrade to System Center Configuration Manager 2007. For customers remaining on SMS 2003 Service Pack 3, the Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates (ITMU) is also an option.

For SMS 2003, the SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates (ITMU) can be used by SMS to detect security updates that are offered by Microsoft Update and that are supported by Windows Server Update Services. For more information about the SMS 2003 ITMU, see SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates. For more information about SMS scanning tools, see SMS 2003 Software Update Scanning Tools. See also Downloads for Systems Management Server 2003.

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 uses WSUS 3.0 for detection of updates. For more information about Configuration Manager 2007 Software Update Management, visit System Center Configuration Manager 2007.

For more information about SMS, visit the SMS Web site.

For more detailed information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 910723: Summary list of monthly detection and deployment guidance articles.

Note If you have used an Administrative Installation Point (AIP) for deploying Office XP or Office 2003, you may not be able to deploy the update using SMS if you have updated the AIP from the original baseline. For more information, see the Office Administrative Installation Point heading in this section.

Office Administrative Installation Point

If you installed your application from a server location, the server administrator must update the server location with the administrative update and deploy that update to your system.

• For supported versions of Microsoft Office XP, see Creating an Administrative Installation Point. For more information on how to change the source for a client system from an updated administrative installation point to an Office XP original baseline source, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 922665.
  Note If you plan to manage software updates centrally from an updated administrative image, you can find more information in the article Updating Office XP Clients from a Patched Administrative Image.
• For supported versions of Microsoft Office 2003, see Creating an Administrative Installation Point. For more information on how to change the source for a client computer from an updated administrative installation point to an Office 2003 original baseline source or Service Pack 3 (SP3), see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 902349.
  Note If you plan to manage software updates centrally from an updated administrative image, you can find more information in the article, Distributing Office 2003 Product Updates.
• For creating a network installation point for supported versions of Microsoft Office, see Create a network installation point for Microsoft Office.
  Note If you plan to manage security updates centrally, use Windows Server Update Services. For more information about how to deploy security updates for Microsoft Office, visit the Windows Server Update Services Web site.

Update Compatibility Evaluator and Application Compatibility Toolkit

Updates often write to the same files and registry settings required for your applications to run. This can trigger incompatibilities and increase the time it takes to deploy security updates. You can streamline testing and validating Windows updates against installed applications with the Update Compatibility Evaluator components included with Application Compatibility Toolkit.

The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) contains the necessary tools and documentation to evaluate and mitigate application compatibility issues before deploying Microsoft Windows Vista, a Windows Update, a Microsoft Security Update, or a new version of Windows Internet Explorer in your environment.

Security Update Deployment

Affected Software

For information about the specific security update for your affected software, click the appropriate link:

Excel 2003 (all editions)

Reference Table

The following table contains the security update information for this software. You can find additional information in the Deployment Information subsection below.

Office Features

The following table contains the list of feature names (case sensitive) that must be reinstalled for the update. To install all features, you can use REINSTALL=ALL or you can install the following features:

Note Administrators working in managed environments can find complete resources for deploying Office updates in an organization at the Office Admin Update Center. At that site, scroll down and look under the Update Resources section for the software version you are updating. The Windows Installer Documentation also provides more information about the parameters supported by Windows Installer.

Deployment Information

Installing the Update

You can install the update from the appropriate download link in the Affected and Non-Affected Software section. If you installed your application from a server location, the server administrator must instead update the server location with the administrative update and deploy that update to your system. For more information about Administrative Installation Points, refer to the Office Administrative Installation Point information in the Detection and deployment Tools and Guidance subsection.

This security update requires that Windows Installer 2.0 or later be installed on the system. All supported versions of Windows include Windows Installer 2.0 or a later version.

To install the 2.0 or later version of Windows Installer, visit one of the following Microsoft Web sites:

• Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable for Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP
• Windows Installer 3.1 Redistributable for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows 2000
• Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0

For more information about the terminology that appears in this bulletin, such as hotfix, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 824684.

This security update supports the following setup switches.

Supported Security Update Installation Switches

Note You can combine these switches into one command. For backward compatibility, the security update also supports many of the setup switches that the earlier version of the Setup program uses. For more information about the supported installation switches, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 262841.

Removing the Update

To remove this security update, use the Add or Remove Programs tool in Control Panel.

Note When you remove this update, you may be prompted to insert the Microsoft Office 2003 CD in the CD drive. Additionally, you may not have the option to uninstall the update from the Add or Remove Programs tool in Control Panel. There are several possible causes for this issue. For more information about the removal, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 903771.

Verifying that the Update Has Been Applied

• Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

  To verify that a security update has been applied to an affected system, you may be able to use the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) tool. See the section, Detection and Deployment Tools and Guidance, earlier in this bulletin for more information.

• File Version Verification

  Because there are several editions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your system. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

  1. Click Start and then enter an update file name in the Start Search box.
  2. When the file appears under Programs, right-click the file name and click Properties.
  3. On the General tab, compare the file size with the file information tables provided in the bulletin KB article.
  4. You can also click the Details tab and compare information, such as file version and date modified, with the file information tables provided in the bulletin KB article.
  5. Finally, you can also click the Previous Versions tab and compare file information for the previous version of the file with the file information for the new, or updated, version of the file.

Office 2004 for Mac

Deployment Information

Prerequisites

• Mac OS X version 10.2.8 or later on a G3, Mac OS X-compatible processor or higher
• Mac OS X user accounts must have administrator privileges to install this security update

Installing the Update

Download and install the appropriate language version of the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.6.6 Update from the Microsoft Download Center.

• Quit any applications that are running, including virus-protection applications, all Microsoft Office applications, Microsoft Messenger for Mac, and Office Notifications, because they might interfere with installation.
• Open the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.6.6 Update volume on your desktop. This step might have been performed for you.
• To start the update process, in the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.6.6 Update volume window, double-click the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.6.6 Update application, and follow the instructions on the screen.
• If the installation finishes successfully, you can remove the update installer from your hard disk. To verify that the installation finished successfully, see the following "Verifying Update Installation" heading. To remove the update installer, first drag the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.6.6 Update volume to the Trash, and then drag the file that you downloaded to the Trash.

Verifying Update Installation

To verify that a security update is installed on an affected system, follow these steps:

1. In the Finder, navigate to the Application Folder (Microsoft Office 2004: Office).
2. Select the file, Microsoft Component Plugin.
3. On the File menu, click Get Info or Show Info.

If the Version number is 11.6.6, the update has been successfully installed.

Restart Requirement

This update does not require you to restart your computer.

Removing the Update

This security update cannot be uninstalled.

Additional Information

If you have technical questions or problems downloading or using this update, visit Microsoft for Mac Support to learn about the support options that are available to you.

Other Information

Acknowledgments

Microsoft thanks the following for working with us to help protect customers:

• An anonymous researcher, working with VeriSign iDefense Labs, for reporting the Record Memory Corruption Vulnerability (CVE-2011-3403)

Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP)

To improve security protections for customers, Microsoft provides vulnerability information to major security software providers in advance of each monthly security update release. Security software providers can then use this vulnerability information to provide updated protections to customers via their security software or devices, such as antivirus, network-based intrusion detection systems, or host-based intrusion prevention systems. To determine whether active protections are available from security software providers, please visit the active protections Web sites provided by program partners, listed in Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) Partners.

Support

• Customers in the U.S. and Canada can receive technical support from Security Support or 1-866-PCSAFETY (1-866-727-2338). There is no charge for support calls that are associated with security updates. For more information about available support options, see Microsoft Help and Support.
• International customers can receive support from their local Microsoft subsidiaries. There is no charge for support that is associated with security updates. For more information about how to contact Microsoft for support issues, visit the International Support Web site.

Disclaimer

The information provided in the Microsoft Knowledge Base is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Microsoft disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Microsoft Corporation or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages, even if Microsoft Corporation or its suppliers have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages so the foregoing limitation may not apply.

Revisions

• V1.0 (December 13, 2011): Bulletin published.
• V1.1 (December 21, 2011): Added Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack Service Pack 3 to the Non-Affected Software table. This is an informational change only. There were no changes to the detection logic or the update files.

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