Report of a buggy MSComCTL.ocx in January’s Office patches. Again.

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Günter Born just posted details (German). Quoting blogger Sam: Microsoft once again issues a wrong file version of the MS Common Controls (MScomctl.oc
[See the full post at: Report of a buggy MSComCTL.ocx in January’s Office patches. Again.]

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rontpxz81, PhotM, OscarCP, Mr. Natural

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G. Born (as quoted by Woody): ” In the other versions of Office, I have found absolutely no clues at Microsoft, with which patch in December 2018 or Jan 2019 the wrong MS Common Controls file version is delivered. MS is totally silent here. ”

So this could be a worry for everybody that uses “Office”, no matter which version, including those of us who also use the Office 2016 Mac version.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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This particular issue won’t affect the Mac version as it is a problem with the Windows Common Controls ActiveX library, a Windows system DLL.

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OscarCP

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+I thought Office C2R is supposed to run isolated with App-V technology (i.e. do not install any system components to C:\Windows directories, except the VC++ UCRT)

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deuxbits

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This morning I received a feedback from blog reader samuel, reporting, that the February 2019 updates also ships the wrong ocx version again. An English version of the article will be published this night (02/09/2019 1 a.m. UTC+1)

Ex Microsoft Windows (Insider) MVP, Microsoft Answers Community Moderator, Blogger, Book author

https://www.borncity.com/win/

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woody

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abbodi86 wrote:

+I thought Office C2R is supposed to run isolated with App-V technology (i.e. do not install any system components to C:\Windows directories, except the VC++ UCRT)

But they need to incorporate something, to allow controls in VBA apps. From what I understand, each c2r update ships the necessary components.

Ex Microsoft Windows (Insider) MVP, Microsoft Answers Community Moderator, Blogger, Book author

https://www.borncity.com/win/

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I just made a quick Office C2R install test, and i cannot find mscomctl.ocx in C:\Windows\SysWOW64

it only installs to “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\SystemX86” as expected, with version number 7.0.52.6282
and it seems the file did not got updated or changed since August 2017

as far as i know, only MSI-based Office (2010, 2013, 2016) would install mscomctl.ocx to the system directory
or maybe 3rd party application/add-in installed it?

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deuxbits

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I’m sure I’m not alone here not being able to read German so the link you provided to Born’s article in German is useless to me Woody. In plain English… does this affect ALL versions of Office (for Windows)… including 2010?

FWIW… I’ve installed all the Office 2010 updates that were checked and I’m not getting any error messages when either saving or editing and saving with Excel or Word files. Since there was no information in English stating what causes the error or when to expect it that’s the only feedback I can provide.

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This is a very specific error in the Common Control library. It’ll only affect people with VBA programs that use the library – and even then it’s a retrograde error, so it’ll only show up when people are using the specific entries that were changed in the latest version.

So, yes, it affects Office 2010. No, you probably don’t need to worry about it. The folks who should be very worried are the ones who write add-ins for Office products.

(And if you click on the link to the German site while you’re using Chrome, you get a decent-but-not-great translation, automatically. Otherwise, copy and paste the text or URL into your favorite translator site.)

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SueW, columbia2011, rontpxz81, Ed

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I just updated a machine with Office 2010 Pro (MSI) with four 2019-02-05 updates and I can confirm that these updates did not change/update MSCOMCTL.OCX. The version of MSCOMCTL.OCX is still 6.01.9864 as it was before.

These 2019-02-05 Office 2010 (32bit) updates are:

KB4462172

KB4462187

KB4462182 (Outlook)

KB3115314 (Visio)

I have also checked Office Pro 2013 C2R and Office Pro 2016 C2R machines for Office updates a few minutes ago 2019-02-06 15:00 GMT and neither of these machines are seeing updates yet. However I’ve found C2R updates tend to run a bit late in the update cycle.

You can check Office 2013 C2R latest version history here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-2013

Which is consistent since it has not been updated since 2019-01-08

And Office 2016 C2R latest version history here (if you can figure out the mess that is a C2R Office365 and Office 20xy channels and “version”):

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office365-proplus-by-date

Which has not been updated since 2019-01-31 and appears to indicate that there is a only a “new” version 1901 in the Monthly Channel.

 

Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing - Werner Von Braun

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woody, abbodi86

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I was offered those 4 updates as well: they were Important but unchecked.

~Annemarie

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Interesting.

Günter’s articles don’t list build numbers. I think. So I can’t correlate what he says with what you’ve seen.

Have to wonder if the version of mscomctl.ocx that you’re seeing is the one that shipped in the January updates. Thus, it wasn’t changed in the Feb update – but nonetheless it’s the “bad” (?) new one.

https://twitter.com/etguenni/status/1093465707549995009

So you have to choose between a working old ocx with vulnerability (if there are vulnerabilities) and a non working and maybe fixed ocx. Nice world …

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I am running .msi versions of both 32-bit Office Pro 2010 (two installations) and 64-bit Office Pro 2010. Those four Feb non-security updates are offered as UNCHECKED important updates on the 32-bit Office and as CHECKED important updates on the 64-bit Office.
I have not installed them on either version.

mscomctl.ocsx for 64-bit is 6.1.9846 (12/9/15)

Additional information on 64-bit:
In January I installed updates 4461614 (Office). 2553332 (Office), 4461625 (Word), 4461623 (Outlook).
I did not install 4462157 (Office)

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Are you still seeing that the 32-bit updates are unchecked?

I haven’t seen any warnings about them, but you know… Microsoft…

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Just rechecked. They are now CHECKED in the 32-bit.

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woody

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Additional information on 32-bit:

In January I installed updates 2553332 (Office), 4461625 (Word), 4461623 (Outlook).
I did not install  4461614 (Office), 4462157 (Office)

mscomctl.ocsx for 32-bit is 6.1.9846 (12/9/15)

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woody

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FWIW, I’m Win7 Home Premium 64-bit (Group B), and Office 2010 Pro 32-bit, and I installed the checked January Office updates, and my copy of C:\Windows\SysWOW64\MSCOMCTL.OCX is still version 6.01.9846, and the file modified date is 12/9/2015.

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Ed wrote:

I’m sure I’m not alone here not being able to read German so the link you provided to Born’s article in German is useless to me Woody. In plain English… does this affect ALL versions of Office (for Windows)… including 2010? FWIW… I’ve installed all the Office 2010 updates that were checked and I’m not getting any error messages when either saving or editing and saving with Excel or Word files. Since there was no information in English stating what causes the error or when to expect it that’s the only feedback I can provide.

The English version of the article with more details is now online: Office Update ships ‘wrong’ MSComCTL.ocx (Jan. 2019)

Ex Microsoft Windows (Insider) MVP, Microsoft Answers Community Moderator, Blogger, Book author

https://www.borncity.com/win/

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woody, Ed

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