Description of the Excel 2000 security update: October 12, 2004

View products that this article applies to.

Summary

Microsoft has released a security update for Microsoft Excel 2000. The following "Article contents" section describes the information that this article contains about the security update.

↑ Back to the top

Introduction

A security vulnerability exists in Microsoft Excel 2000 that could allow arbitrary code to run when you open a maliciously modified spreadsheet. This vulnerability exists because of a problem in the way that Excel 2000 interprets data from a spreadsheet where certain properties have been maliciously modified. If this vulnerability were successfully exploited, an attacker could craft a malicious spreadsheet that could cause code of the attacker�s choice to be executed automatically when you open the maliciously modified spreadsheet. This update resolves this vulnerability so that Excel 2000 spreadsheets are handled appropriately.

↑ Back to the top

More information

Security update details

List of issues that this security update fixes

The Excel 2000 security update: KB873372 fixes the issues that are described in the following hotfix packages:

873361 Description of the Excel 2000 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: July 26, 2004

873324 Description of the Excel 2000 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: July 26, 2004

867816 Description of the Excel 2000 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: June 18, 2004

842525 Excel 2000 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: May 24, 2004

841881 Description of the Excel 2000 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: May 20, 2004

840653 Excel 2000 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: May 14, 2004

839653 Excel 2000 Post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: April 12, 2004

837242 Excel 2000 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: February 26, 2004

830818 Excel 2000 post-Service Pack 3 hotfix package: November 5, 2003

Earlier released updates that this service pack includes

The Excel 2000 security update: KB873372 includes the following earlier released update:

830349 Description of the Excel 2000 Security Patch: November 11, 2003

Installation details

How to obtain and install the security update

The client and administrative security updates, and also installation instructions and deployment strategies, are found on the Microsoft Download Center. To download this security update from the Microsoft Download Center, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B0C40C24-4DDE-45AF-8433-6DBDDD030C30

How to determine whether the security update is installed

The security update contains files with the versions that are listed in the following table:

   File name     Version        Language
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
   Excel.exe     9.0.0.8924     All languages except Hindi and Thai
   Excel.exe     9.0.0.8905     Hindi and Thai

You do not have to install this security update if you have a later version of the files that are listed in this table.

For additional information about how to determine the version of Excel 2000 that is installed on your computer, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

255275 How to determine the version of your Office 2000 program

Information for administrators about .msp files

The administrative security update is made up of a full-file Microsoft Windows Installer patch file (.msp file) that is packaged in a self-extracting executable file. The .msp files in the following table are distributed in this security update.

Name of .msp file	Description
Excelop.msp	Client installations
Excelff.msp	Administrative installations

Features for reinstalling specific components for administrators

If you update your administrative installation point and recache and reinstall Excel 2000 on client computers, you can run a command line that includes the REINSTALL=[list of features] property. This property specifies whether you want to reinstall specific components of Excel 2000 from the administrative image. For the Excel 2000 security update: KB873372, the value for the list of features property is as follows:

EXCELFiles

Optionally, you can substitute the REINSTALL=ALL property to reinstall all Microsoft Office components on the client computer.

The Office Admin Update Center for Office IT Professionals contains the latest administrative updates and strategic deployment resources for all versions of Office. For more information about the Office Admin Update Center, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/office/ork/default.mspx

Error signature details

When you use Excel 2000, you receive an error message that is similar to the following:

Microsoft Excel has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. To see what data this error report contains, click here.

When you view the data in the error report, the report contains an error signature that is similar to one of the following error signatures. These error signatures are fixed by the security update.

  Application name  Application version  Module name  Module version  Offset
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.8216           Excel.exe    9.0.0.8216      0012a87a
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.8216           Excel.exe    9.0.0.8216      0004c522
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.8216           Excel.exe    9.0.0.8216      0004cdfb
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.8216           Excel.exe    9.0.0.8216      0004c4b8
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.8216           Excel.exe    9.0.0.8216      0004cc3a
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.8216           Excel.exe    9.0.0.8216      0004c99d
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.8216           Excel.exe    9.0.0.8216      00163aec
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.6627           Excel.exe    9.0.0.6627      004e346d
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.6627           Excel.exe    9.0.0.6627      0004c429
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.6627           Excel.exe    9.0.0.6627      0004c431
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.6627           Excel.exe    9.0.0.6627      0004c7bb
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.6627           Excel.exe    9.0.0.6627      0004cd02
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.6627           Excel.exe    9.0.0.6627      0004c424
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.6627           Excel.exe    9.0.0.6627      0004c8ff
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.6627           Excel.exe    9.0.0.6627      0008754c
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.4430           Excel.exe    9.0.0.4430      004e2631
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.4430           Excel.exe    9.0.0.4430      0004c309
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.4430           Excel.exe    9.0.0.4430      0004c311
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.4430           Excel.exe    9.0.0.4430      000b9a2e
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      004e2419
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      0010e169
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      0004c359
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      0004c361
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      0004c6eb
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      0004cc32
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      0004ca71
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      0004c2ef
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      0004c352
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      0004c354
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      000984fa
  Excel.exe         9.0.0.3822           Excel.exe    9.0.0.3822      00293eec

Additionally, other program versions, module versions, and offsets are possible.

↑ Back to the top