ARN

Microsoft fixes Office 2003 document lockout bug

Unpatched Rights Management Services will prevent even authorized users from reading protected documents

Microsoft has fixed a problem in Office 2003 that prevented the software from opening documents saved using its access control technology.

The company warned late Friday that Office 2003 would not be able to open documents that had been protected with its Rights Management Services (RMS) beyond that day until Microsoft issued an update, even if users were authorized to open the document.

Users also could not save documents with RMS, which is used to prevent sensitive documents from being opened by unauthorized users, among other functions.

The problem was caused by the expiration of an Information Rights Management (IRM) certificate. On Saturday, Microsoft released a hotfix, it wrote on its Office Sustained Engineering Team blog.

The problem affects Word 2003, Word 2003 Viewer, Excel 2003, Excel 2003 Viewer, PowerPoint 2003 and Outlook 2003. Office 2007 is not affected and neither is the Office 2010 beta, according to a Microsoft spokeswoman.

If the hotfix is not applied, users will see the warning: "Unexpected error occurred. Please try again later or contact your system administrator."

The problem was first reported by Technologizer blog.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: Excel, Microsoft, RMS
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the ARN comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: bug, Microsoft, microsoft patches, Office
ARN Directory | Distributors relevant to this article
ASI Solutions , Bluechip Infotech , Compucon Computers , Dicker Data , Express Data , Express Online , ICT Distribution , Impact Systems Technology , Leader Computers , NewLease , Synnex Australia , Topstar Computer International , XiT Distribution , Xpress I.T.
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to ARN's news, research and invitation only events.
ARN Distributor Directory
Find distributors by name | vendor | location
Channel Deals
/deals/whitegold-solutions/2012-05-22_443_free-allied-telesis-wireless-router
WhiteGold Solutions

Free Allied Telesis Wireless Router

More details »
ARN Vendor Directory
Find vendors by name | category

iAsset is a channel management ecosystem that automates all major aspects of the entire sales,marketing and service process, including data tracking, integrated learning, knowledge management and product lifecycle management.