CVE-2012-1854
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Insecure Library Loading Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 27 April 2026). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
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.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 20.87% probability · 98th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Listed 13 April 2026 · due 27 April 2026
- Weakness
- CWE-426
- Affected
- microsoft/office · microsoft/visual basic for applications · microsoft/visual basic for applications sdk
- Source
- secure@microsoft.com
EPSS 20.9% since 30 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
CISA notes
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2012/ms12-046 ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-1854
References
- http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA12-192A.htmlUS Government Resource
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2012/ms12-046Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A14950Broken Link
- http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA12-192A.htmlUS Government Resource
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2012/ms12-046Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A14950Broken Link
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/SecurityBulletins/2012/ms12-046Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2012-1854US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.