Security News

Microsoft has released a security update for Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, resolving two remote code execution vulnerabilities and an information disclosure vulnerability. The Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.3.7 update provides the latest bug fixes for critical issues and helps to improve security. Described in the Microsoft AutoUpdate notice, the software update “includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.”

The Office for Mac 2011 security update resolves three vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office.

Microsoft’s security bulletin describes these issues as follows:

The most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Office file with an affected version of Microsoft Excel or other affected Microsoft Office software. An attacker who successfully exploited the most severe vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the current 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.

Additionally, the following information about the resolved vulnerabilities is contained in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list:

• CVE-2013-1315 : Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 SP3, 2010 SP1 and SP2, and 2013; Office Web Apps 2010; Excel 2003 SP3, 2007 SP3, 2010 SP1 and SP2, 2013, and 2013 RT; Office for Mac 2011; Excel Viewer; and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted Office document, aka “Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability.”
• CVE-2013-3158 : Microsoft Excel 2003 SP3 and 2007 SP3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted Office document, aka “Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability.”
• CVE-2013-3159 : An information disclosure vulnerability exists in the way that Microsoft Excel parses specially crafted XML files containing external entities. Microsoft Excel 2003 SP3, 2007 SP3, and 2010 SP1 and SP2; Excel Viewer; and Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack SP3 allow remote attackers to read arbitrary files via an XML document containing an external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue, aka “XML External Entities Resolution Vulnerability.”

We recommend that all users running Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac apply these updates as soon as possible. Office users can update your software using Microsoft’s AutoUpdate application, or you can visit Microsoft’s Download Center to get the 113.3 MB Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.3.7 update for Mac.