CVE-2006-1540

HIGHCVSS v2 · 9.39.3—
EchelonGraph scoreLOW confidence

This CVE was only ever scored under CVSS v2.0. NVD CVSS v2.0 base 9.3 — v2 rates that HIGH (v2 bands: LOW 0.0–3.9 / MEDIUM 4.0–6.9 / HIGH 7.0–10.0; v2 has no CRITICAL band). Vector AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C. CVSS v2 is an older, coarser metric than v3.1/v4.0 (no Scope, no User Interaction, no Attack Requirements), so it is not directly comparable to a v3 or v4 score. NVD has never re-scored this record under v3. EPSS predicts 43.7% exploitation probability in the next 30 days, which is reflected in EG Risk but does not lift the v2 base. Confidence: LOW.

Sources: epss, nvd_v2
Weaponized
9.3EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • Public exploit code is available (Exploit-DB (verified), epss top5pct, public exploit)
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 44%CVSS v2: 9.3Exploit: Exploit-DB (verified) · epss top5pct · public exploitExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

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.

CVSS v2.0 (legacy)
9.3HIGHNVD never assigned a CVSS v3 rating to this CVE
EG Score
9.3(low)
EG Risk
72(Track)
EG Risk 72/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity93% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
44%
EPSS %ILE
99%
KEV
Not listed

Published

March 30, 2006

Last Modified

April 16, 2026

References (28)

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 23× 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.

  1. 2026-07-26 13:28 UTCEG score recompute▲ 9.30
  2. 2026-07-24 14:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-23 00:50 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-07-23 00:29 UTCEG score recompute▼ 2.20
  5. 2026-07-22 23:54 UTCEG score recompute▲ 2.20
  6. 2026-07-22 21:34 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-07-20 17:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-18 09:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-16 16:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-15 16:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-15 01:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-13 22:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-13 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-13 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-09 19:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-08 15:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-06 02:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-06 02:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-02 14:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-01 15:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-27 03:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 40 more
  1. 2026-06-24 14:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-24 14:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-23 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-23 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-22 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-21 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-15 17:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-14 23:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-13 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-12 23:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-11 13:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-10 22:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-05 22:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-05 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-05 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-04 13:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-04 13:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-05-31 09:23 UTCEG score recompute
  28. 2026-05-31 09:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  29. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-05-29 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-05-27 13:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-05-27 13:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-05-21 22:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-05-20 22:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-05-20 22:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 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✓ verified
    First seen Mar 27, 2006

    Microsoft Office Products - Array Index Bounds Error (PoC)

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(4)

What is CVE-2006-1540?
CVE-2006-1540 is a high vulnerability published on March 30, 2006. 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…
When was CVE-2006-1540 disclosed?
CVE-2006-1540 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on March 30, 2006, with the most recent update on April 16, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2006-1540 actively exploited?
CVE-2006-1540 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 44% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 1.4% of all scored CVEs.
How do I remediate CVE-2006-1540?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2006-1540, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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