Effects 

MS09-027 is not categorized as virus, worm, Trojan or backdoor. It is a critical vulnerability in certain versions of Word, which allows arbitrary code to be remotely executed in the vulnerable computer.

The affected versions are:

• Word 2000 on Office 2000, Word 2002 on Office XP, Word 2003 on Office 2003, Word 2007 on Office 2007.
• Office Viewer 2003 and Office Word Viewer.
• Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats.
• Office 2004 and Office 2008 for Mac.
• Open XML File Format Converter for Mac.

This vulnerability is due to the way Word handles a specially crafted Word file that includes a malformed record.

If exploited successfully, MS09-027 allows hackers to gain remote control of the affected computer with the same privileges as the logged-on user. If this user had administrator rights, the hacker could take complete control of the system: create, modify or delete files, install programs, create new user accounts, etc.

MS09-027 is exploited by creating a specially crafted Word file and sending it via email or hosting it in a website and convincing users to open it.

If you have any of the vulnerable programs installed on your computer, it is recommended to download and apply the security patch for this vulnerability. Click here to access the web page for downloading the patch.