CVE-2012-1854
Published on July 10, 2012
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.
Known Exploited Vulnerability
This Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Insecure Library Loading Vulnerability is part of CISA's list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) contains an insecure library loading vulnerability that could allow for remote code execution.
The following remediation steps are recommended / required by April 27, 2026: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2012-1854 is exploitable with local system access, requires user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. This vulnerability is known to be actively exploited by threat actors. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.
Weakness Type
What is an Untrusted Path Vulnerability?
The application searches for critical resources using an externally-supplied search path that can point to resources that are not under the application's direct control.
CVE-2012-1854 has been classified to as an Untrusted Path vulnerability or weakness.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.