📄 Description (English)
Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerability — A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2017-0262 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Office with a CVSS score of 9.0. This vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild, notably by APT28 (Fancy Bear) and APT29 groups using weaponized EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) files embedded in Office documents. The exploit allows attackers to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the current user when a malicious document is opened. Given the widespread use of Microsoft Office across all sectors, this vulnerability poses an extremely high risk, especially since public exploits are available.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: Apr 7, 2026 09:01
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability poses severe risk across all Saudi sectors due to universal Microsoft Office deployment. Government entities regulated by NCA are at high risk from APT-level exploitation, particularly given the geopolitical targeting of Middle Eastern governments. Banking and financial institutions under SAMA regulation face risk of data exfiltration and financial fraud through spear-phishing campaigns. Energy sector organizations including ARAMCO and utilities are prime targets for nation-state actors who have historically used this exact vulnerability. Telecom providers (STC, Mobily, Zain) and healthcare organizations are also at significant risk. The availability of weaponized exploits and the history of APT groups targeting Saudi infrastructure (e.g., Shamoon attacks) elevates the urgency considerably.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Government
Banking
Energy
Telecom
Healthcare
Education
Defense
Retail
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
9.3
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
Immediate Actions:
1. Apply Microsoft security update MS17-014 / KB3178710 and related May 2017 security patches immediately for all affected Office versions.
2. Disable EPS filter in Microsoft Office via registry: Set HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Common\Security\DisableEPSFilter to DWORD value 1.
3. Enable Windows Defender Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) rules to block Office applications from creating child processes.
Detection Rules:
4. Deploy YARA rules to detect EPS-based exploits in email attachments and file shares.
5. Monitor for suspicious Office process behavior: WINWORD.EXE or EXCEL.EXE spawning cmd.exe, powershell.exe, or other unexpected child processes.
6. Implement email gateway filtering to strip or quarantine documents containing EPS content.
Compensating Controls:
7. Enable Protected View for all Office documents received from external sources.
8. Implement application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized code execution.
9. Restrict Office macro execution via Group Policy.
10. Ensure endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions are deployed and updated.
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تطبيق تحديث الأمان من Microsoft رقم MS17-014 / KB3178710 والتحديثات الأمنية ذات الصلة لشهر مايو 2017 فوراً لجميع إصدارات Office المتأثرة.
2. تعطيل مرشح EPS في Microsoft Office عبر السجل: تعيين HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Common\Security\DisableEPSFilter إلى قيمة DWORD 1.
3. تفعيل قواعد تقليل سطح الهجوم (ASR) في Windows Defender لمنع تطبيقات Office من إنشاء عمليات فرعية.
قواعد الكشف:
4. نشر قواعد YARA للكشف عن استغلالات EPS في مرفقات البريد الإلكتروني ومشاركات الملفات.
5. مراقبة سلوك عمليات Office المشبوهة: WINWORD.EXE أو EXCEL.EXE التي تنشئ عمليات cmd.exe أو powershell.exe أو عمليات فرعية غير متوقعة.
6. تطبيق تصفية بوابة البريد الإلكتروني لإزالة أو عزل المستندات التي تحتوي على محتوى EPS.
الضوابط التعويضية:
7. تفعيل العرض المحمي لجميع مستندات Office المستلمة من مصادر خارجية.
8. تطبيق القوائم البيضاء للتطبيقات لمنع تنفيذ التعليمات البرمجية غير المصرح بها.
9. تقييد تنفيذ وحدات الماكرو في Office عبر سياسة المجموعة.
10. التأكد من نشر وتحديث حلول الكشف والاستجابة للنقاط الطرفية (EDR).
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
2-3-1 (Patch Management)
2-5-1 (Malware Protection)
2-6-1 (Email Security)
2-2-1 (Asset Management)
2-9-1 (Vulnerability Management)
🔵 SAMA CSF
3.3.3 (Patch Management)
3.3.5 (Malware Protection)
3.3.7 (Email and Web Security)
3.4.1 (Incident Detection)
3.3.1 (Vulnerability Management)
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
A.8.8 (Management of technical vulnerabilities)
A.8.7 (Protection against malware)
A.8.23 (Web filtering)
A.5.7 (Threat intelligence)
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0
6.3.3 (Install critical security patches within one month)
5.2 (Deploy anti-malware mechanisms)
11.3 (Penetration testing)
🔗 References & Sources 0
No references.
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
Microsoft:Office