Vulnerability in Microsoft Office
CVE-2012-1854
Untrusted search path vulnerability in VBE6.dll in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2 and SP3, and 2010 Gold and SP1; Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA); and Summit Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications SDK allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in the current working directory, as demonstrated by a directory that contains a .docx file, aka "Visual Basic for Applications Insecure Library Loading Vulnerability," as exploited in the wild in July 2012.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.209 (97.5th percentile), scored .
Moderate probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — watch for active exploitation reports. 98th percentile — 97.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.210 · newest: 0.209 · change: -0.002
Affected products
- Microsoft Office — versions 2003, 2007, 2010
- Microsoft Visual Basic For Applications
- Microsoft Visual Basic For Applications Sdk
Weakness classification (CWE)
CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)
This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on . CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.
BOD 22-01 due date: .
Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
References
- www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA12-192A.html (US Government Resource, third-party-advisory)
- oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval:org.mitre.oval:def:14950 (Broken Link, signature, vdb-entry)
- docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2012/ms12-046 (vendor-advisory, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
- 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
- 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (US Government Resource)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2012-1854?
- CVE-2012-1854 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Office, classified under Untrusted Search Path. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2012-07-10.
- How severe is CVE-2012-1854?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2012-1854 known to be exploited?
- Yes. CVE-2012-1854 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2026-04-13), indicating it is being actively exploited.