# CVE-2008-3003: Information disclosure in n/a

> Local attackers can extract cached remote data source passwords from Excel files, enabling unauthorized access to remote data sources.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.6 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Aug 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6x7h-634p-8jfg

## What is CVE-2008-3003?

CVE-2008-3003 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Office, published on 12 Aug 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Gold and SP1 does not properly delete the PWD (password) string from connections.xml when a .xlsx file is configured not to save the remote data session password, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information and obtain access to a remote data source, aka the "Excel Credential Caching Vulnerability."

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-3003?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Microsoft Office.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-3003?

No fix has been published for CVE-2008-3003 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2008-3003 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-3003 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office

- [CVE-2018-0798](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0798/): Microsoft Office Memory Corruption (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-1770](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1770/): Microsoft Office Uninitialized Memory Use (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2006-2492](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-2492/): Microsoft Word Malformed Object Pointer (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-0802](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0802/): Microsoft Office Memory Corruption (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-11882](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11882/): Microsoft Office Memory Corruption (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-3003 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-3003 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Office, published on 12 Aug 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-3003 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Microsoft Office. 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-2008-3003/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3003/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-3003
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-3003
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-3003

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3003/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.