excel buffer overflow

Question

Hello,

I just surfed in here while looking for a fix to this problem - was wondering if you could help or advise?

In Excel 2007, with Vista Business, when I select PAGE LAYOUT, Comodo Anivirus gives me the following Alert: "Excel tried to execute a shellcode as a result of a possible buffer overflow attack."  "This is typical of a buffer overflow attack. COMODO Defense+ has already isolated EXCEL.EXE from the rest of the system and will keep it isolated unless you skip this alert. However, it is still strongly recommended to terminate this application and contact its vendor for a fix."

Yes, everything is up to date.  I recently downloaded an excel spreadsheet from the internet.  But, I haven't been using Excel 2007 long enough to know if this problem is new, or associated with the recently downloaded spreadsheet.  I have scanned the spreadsheet with Comodo and nothing came up.

Also, It appears I'm not the only one having a problem with this:  http://forums.comodo.com/defense-sandbox-help-cis/ms-excel-buffer-overflow-attack-t39528.0.html

Thanks for whatever you can input.

Answer 1

Try opening Excel in application safe mode and check if the issue occurs. To open Excel in application safe, click start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Press and hold the Ctrl key and click ‘Microsoft Office Excel 2007’.

If everything works fine in safe mode, then disable the add-in(s). For information on disabling add-in(s) in Word check the Microsoft link below:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/enable-or-disable-add-ins-in-office-programs-HA010034127.aspx