HighCISA KEVExploited in the wildPublic exploit

Microsoft Office RTF Memory Corruption RCE

IdentifiersCVE-2015-1641CWE-119

CVE-2015-1641 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office/Word handling of crafted Rich Text Format (RTF) documents. According to the provided content, affected products include Microsoft Word 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Word for Mac 2011, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2 and 2013 SP1, and Office Web Apps Server 2010 SP2 and 2013 SP1. A remote attacker can trigger the flaw by convincing a target to open a specially crafted RTF document, resulting in arbitrary code execution. The content does not identify the exact vulnerable function, only that Microsoft classifies it as a Microsoft Office memory corruption vulnerability.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows arbitrary code execution in the context of the affected Microsoft Office component or the user opening the malicious document. In observed campaigns cited in the content, attackers used the vulnerability to drop and execute malware payloads including RATs, downloaders, and backdoors. This makes the flaw suitable for initial compromise, espionage, persistence staging, and follow-on intrusion activity.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by blocking or quarantining RTF attachments from untrusted sources, disabling or restricting automatic opening/rendering of RTF content where operationally feasible, and using protected-view/sandboxing controls for Office documents. Limit use of vulnerable legacy Office versions and monitor for suspicious Office child-process behavior and malware dropped from temporary or user-writable directories. These mitigations are general best practices; the provided content specifically confirms patching as the primary mitigation.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the relevant Microsoft security updates for all affected Office, Word, SharePoint Word Automation Services, Office Compatibility Pack, and Office Web Apps Server versions. The provided content explicitly recommends updating affected Microsoft products with the latest security patches.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

Microsoft CorporationOfficeapplication

Microsoft CorporationOffice Compatibility Packapplication

Microsoft CorporationOffice Web Appsapplication

Microsoft CorporationOutlookapplication

Microsoft CorporationSharepoint Serverapplication

Microsoft CorporationWordapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

10 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

10 SOURCESView more in app

sentinelone labsNews

Jan 9, 2025

ModifiedElephant APT and a Decade of Fabricating Evidence | SentinelOne

A Microsoft Office exploit used in malicious lure documents by ModifiedElephant to drop and execute malware during spearphishing campaigns.

proofpoint threat insight blogNews

Jun 1, 2017

Microsoft Word Intruder Integrates CVE-2017-0199, Utilized by Cobalt Group to Target Financial Institutions | Proofpoint US

A Microsoft Office-related vulnerability advertised as supported by the Microsoft Word Intruder exploit pack.

citizenlabNews

Nov 17, 2016

It’s Parliamentary: KeyBoy and the targeting of the Tibetan Community

A newer (but still patched) Microsoft Office / Word RTF vulnerability used in spearphishing attachments to trigger execution of a dropper and install the KeyBoy backdoor via a similar infection chain to the earlier attempt.

mitre attackNews

Jan 25, 2026

Exploitation for Client Execution, Technique T1203 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

A Microsoft Office vulnerability used for code execution.

+5 more in the timeline

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence8

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware7

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures2

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES

MITRE CVE

cve.org · CVE-2015-1641

NVD

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-1641

MITRE CWE · CWE-119

cwe.mitre.org

Patch

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2015/ms15-033

US Government Resource

cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2015-1641