# CVE-2002-1143: Information disclosure in n/a

> Remote attackers can steal sensitive information by tricking users into opening malicious Word or Excel documents containing specific field codes.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Apr 2003
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5jm3-4wj9-623c

## What is CVE-2002-1143?

CVE-2002-1143 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Excel, published on 3 Apr 2003. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Microsoft Word and Excel allow remote attackers to steal sensitive information via certain field codes that insert the information when the document is returned to the attacker, as demonstrated in Word using (1) INCLUDETEXT or (2) INCLUDEPICTURE, aka "Flaw in Word Fields and Excel External Updates Could Lead to Information Disclosure."

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2002-1143?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word.

## How do I fix CVE-2002-1143?

No fix has been published for CVE-2002-1143 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2002-1143 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2002-1143 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Microsoft Word 95/97/98/2000/2002 / Excel 2002 - INCLUDETEXT Document Sharing File Disclosure (exploitdb)
- Microsoft Word 95/97/98/2000/2002 - 'INCLUDEPICTURE' Document Sharing File Disclosure (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel

- [CVE-2019-1297](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1297/): Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2009-0238](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0238/): Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2016-7262](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7262/): Microsoft Office Security Feature Bypass (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2009-3129](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3129/): Microsoft Excel Featheader Record Memory Corruption (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2008-0081](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0081/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2002-1143 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2002-1143 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Excel, published on 3 Apr 2003. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2002-1143 exists.

Affected product: Microsoft Excel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1143/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1143/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2002-1143
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2002-1143
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2002-1143

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1143/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.