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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2012-1856 Microsoft CVE debrief

CVE-2012-1856 is a Microsoft Office remote code execution vulnerability associated with MSCOMCTL.OCX and included in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. That KEV listing means defenders should treat it as actively exploited and prioritize remediation using Microsoft’s guidance.

Vendor
Microsoft
Product
Office
CVSS
Unknown
CISA KEV
Listed
Original CVE published
2022-03-03
Original CVE updated
2022-03-03
Advisory published
2022-03-03
Advisory updated
2022-03-03

Who should care

Microsoft Office administrators, endpoint and patch management teams, vulnerability management teams, and security operations staff responsible for Windows systems that may include MSCOMCTL.OCX.

Technical summary

The supplied records identify this issue as a Microsoft Office remote code execution vulnerability tied to MSCOMCTL.OCX. CISA lists it in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which is a strong indicator that real-world exploitation has been observed. The available corpus does not include version ranges or exploit details, so validation should focus on identifying exposure and applying vendor updates.

Defensive priority

High. CISA KEV inclusion raises remediation urgency, and the supplied due date indicates it should be prioritized ahead of routine patch cycles.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Apply Microsoft updates and remediation guidance as soon as possible.
  • Inventory Office deployments and systems that may include or rely on MSCOMCTL.OCX.
  • Prioritize affected endpoints and servers in patch queues until remediation is complete.
  • Verify remediation after patching and confirm the vulnerability is no longer present in asset scans.
  • Use exploit-monitoring and incident-response playbooks appropriate for a KEV-listed remote code execution issue.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based only on the provided corpus: the CVE title/description, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities record, and the official CVE/NVD links supplied. The source metadata identifies the issue as 'Microsoft Office MSCOMCTL.OCX Remote Code Execution Vulnerability,' with CISA dateAdded 2022-03-03 and dueDate 2022-03-24. No CVSS score, affected-version range, or exploit mechanics were supplied, so those details are intentionally omitted.

Official resources

CISA added this CVE to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-03-03, with remediation due by 2022-03-24. The supplied corpus marks it as a known-exploited Microsoft Office remote code execution issue.