📄 Description (English)
Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability — Microsoft Office contains a memory corruption vulnerability due to the way objects are handled in memory. Successful exploitation allows for remote code execution in the context of the current user. This vulnerability is known to be chained with CVE-2018-0802.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2018-0798 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office that allows remote code execution when a user opens a specially crafted document. With a CVSS score of 9.0 and known active exploitation in the wild, this vulnerability is frequently chained with CVE-2018-0802 to achieve reliable code execution. It has been extensively used by APT groups targeting Middle Eastern organizations, making it a high-priority threat. A patch has been available since January 2018, but unpatched systems remain at significant risk.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: Apr 9, 2026 19:24
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability poses significant risk to Saudi organizations across all sectors due to the ubiquitous use of Microsoft Office. Government entities regulated by NCA, banking institutions under SAMA oversight, ARAMCO and energy sector organizations, and telecom providers like STC are all at risk. APT groups known to target Saudi Arabia (including APT33/Elfin and MuddyWater) have historically leveraged Office memory corruption vulnerabilities including this one in spear-phishing campaigns targeting Saudi government and energy sectors. Organizations still running legacy or unpatched Office installations are particularly vulnerable.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Government
Banking
Energy
Telecom
Healthcare
Defense
Education
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
9.2
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
Immediate Actions:
1. Apply Microsoft security update KB4011656 and related January 2018 patches immediately for all Microsoft Office installations
2. Also patch CVE-2018-0802 as these vulnerabilities are commonly chained together
3. Scan all endpoints for unpatched Microsoft Office versions using vulnerability management tools
Compensating Controls:
1. Disable the Equation Editor component (eqnedt32.exe) via registry: Set HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Common\COM Compatibility\{0002CE02-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} DWORD REG_DWORD to 0x00000400
2. Enable Protected View for all Office documents from external sources
3. Implement Application Whitelisting to prevent unauthorized executables
4. Deploy email gateway filtering to block malicious Office documents (RTF, DOC with embedded equations)
Detection Rules:
1. Monitor for eqnedt32.exe spawning child processes
2. Alert on Office applications spawning cmd.exe, powershell.exe, or other suspicious processes
3. Deploy YARA rules for known exploit documents targeting CVE-2018-0798
4. Monitor for anomalous RTF file structures in email attachments
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تطبيق تحديث الأمان من Microsoft KB4011656 والتصحيحات ذات الصلة لشهر يناير 2018 فوراً لجميع تثبيتات Microsoft Office
2. تصحيح CVE-2018-0802 أيضاً حيث يتم ربط هذه الثغرات معاً بشكل شائع
3. فحص جميع نقاط النهاية بحثاً عن إصدارات Microsoft Office غير المحدثة
الضوابط التعويضية:
1. تعطيل مكون محرر المعادلات (eqnedt32.exe) عبر السجل
2. تمكين العرض المحمي لجميع مستندات Office من مصادر خارجية
3. تنفيذ القائمة البيضاء للتطبيقات لمنع الملفات التنفيذية غير المصرح بها
4. نشر تصفية بوابة البريد الإلكتروني لحظر مستندات Office الضارة
قواعد الكشف:
1. مراقبة eqnedt32.exe لإنشاء عمليات فرعية
2. التنبيه عند إنشاء تطبيقات Office لعمليات مشبوهة مثل cmd.exe أو powershell.exe
3. نشر قواعد YARA للمستندات المستغلة المعروفة
4. مراقبة هياكل ملفات RTF غير الطبيعية في مرفقات البريد الإلكتروني
📋 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 Messaging Security)
3.4.1 (Vulnerability Management)
3.3.4 (Endpoint Security)
🟡 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 (Perform penetration testing)
🔗 References & Sources 0
No references.
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
Microsoft:Office