MSO.DLL in Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP (2002), and Office 2003 allows user-assisted attackers to cause a denial of service and execute arbitrary code via multiple attack vectors, as originally demonstrated using a crafted document record with a malformed string, as demonstrated by replacing a certain "01 00 00 00" byte sequence with an "FF FF FF FF" byte sequence, possibly causing an invalid array index, in (1) an Excel .xls document, which triggers an access violation in ole32.dll; (2) an Excel .xlw document, which triggers an access violation in excel.exe; (3) a Word document, which triggers an access violation in mso.dll in winword.exe; and (4) a PowerPoint document, which triggers an access violation in powerpnt.txt. NOTE: after the initial disclosure, this issue was demonstrated by triggering an integer overflow using an inconsistent size for a Unicode "Sheet Name" string.
CVE-2006-1540
- No confirmed exploitation signals yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- —
- EG Score
- 0.0(none)
- EPSS
- 98.6%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
March 30, 2006
Last Modified
April 16, 2026
References (28)
- cve@mitrehttp://secunia.com/advisories/21012
- cve@mitrehttp://securitytracker.com/id?1015855
- cve@mitrehttp://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/609868
- cve@mitrehttp://www.osvdb.org/27150
- cve@mitrehttp://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/439697/100/0/threaded
- cve@mitrehttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/17252
- cve@mitrehttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/18889
- cve@mitrehttp://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA06-192A.html
- cve@mitrehttp://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2006/2756
- cve@mitrehttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2006/ms06-038
- cve@mitrehttps://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/27607
- cve@mitrehttps://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/27609
- cve@mitrehttps://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A639
- cve@mitrehttps://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/1615
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://secunia.com/advisories/21012
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 6× in last 7d / 28× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-13 22:25 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-31 09:23 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-31 09:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-20 22:36 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-18 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Exploit-DBEDB-1615✓ verifiedFirst seen Mar 27, 2006
Microsoft Office Products - Array Index Bounds Error (PoC)
Open source ↗
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Same CWE
10 shownCWE-94
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- CVE-2005-1921NVD 0.0EG 9.0EPSS 100%NONE
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- CVE-2005-1876EG 4.5MEDIUM
- CVE-2003-1599EG 0.0NONE
- CVE-2006-1318EG 0.0EPSS 96%NONE
- CVE-2006-1301EG 0.0EPSS 95%NONE
- CVE-2006-1308EG 0.0EPSS 95%NONE
- CVE-2006-1309EG 0.0EPSS 95%NONE
- CVE-2006-1304EG 0.0EPSS 95%NONE
Frequently asked(4)
What is CVE-2006-1540?
When was CVE-2006-1540 disclosed?
Is CVE-2006-1540 actively exploited?
How do I remediate CVE-2006-1540?
Dependency Blast Radius
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