Hex editor with word password

1 Oct 2006 7:03 AM

kevo

I recently lost a password to a MSword document i had saved and while
trying to figure out a way to recover the password i came across these
instructions on numerous websites:

1.) Open a protected document in MS Word
2.) Save as "Web Page (*.htm; *.html)", close Word
3.) Open html-document in any Text-Editor
4.) Search "<w:UnprotectPassword>" tag, the line reads something like
that: <w:UnprotectPassword>ABCDEF01</w:UnprotectPassword>
5.) Keep the "password" in mind
6.) Open original document (.doc) with any hex-editor
7.) Search for hex-values of the password (reverse order!)
8.) Overwrite all 4 double-bytes with 0x00, Save, Close
9.) Open document with MS Word, Select "Tools / Unprotect Document"
(password is blank)

Apperently this is a loophole someone discovered that allows anybody to
gain access to a protected word or excel document.
But why the hell would you be hacking into a protected document to
change the password if you can already open it to begin with??
This is so stupid.
If anybody can help me with this, i would be greatly appreciated. I need
a way to regain access to a document and these instructions are not
making sense to me.

kevin

1 Oct 2006 11:34 AM

Douglas J. Steele

This newsgroup is for questions about security in Access, the database
product that's part of Office Professional.

You'd be better off reposting your question to a newsgroup related to Word.

--
Doug Steele, Microsoft Access MVP
http://I.Am/DougSteele
(no private e-mails, please)

Show quoteHide quote

"kevo" <kbi***@mail.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:MKJTg.3678$DU3.3458@tornado.texas.rr.com...
>I recently lost a password to a MSword document i had saved and while
>trying to figure out a way to recover the password i came across these
>instructions on numerous websites:
>
> 1.) Open a protected document in MS Word
> 2.) Save as "Web Page (*.htm; *.html)", close Word
> 3.) Open html-document in any Text-Editor
> 4.) Search "<w:UnprotectPassword>" tag, the line reads something like
> that: <w:UnprotectPassword>ABCDEF01</w:UnprotectPassword>
> 5.) Keep the "password" in mind
> 6.) Open original document (.doc) with any hex-editor
> 7.) Search for hex-values of the password (reverse order!)
> 8.) Overwrite all 4 double-bytes with 0x00, Save, Close
> 9.) Open document with MS Word, Select "Tools / Unprotect Document"
> (password is blank)
>
>
> Apperently this is a loophole someone discovered that allows anybody to
> gain access to a protected word or excel document.
> But why the hell would you be hacking into a protected document to change
> the password if you can already open it to begin with??
> This is so stupid.
> If anybody can help me with this, i would be greatly appreciated. I need a
> way to regain access to a document and these instructions are not making
> sense to me.
>
> kevin

1 Oct 2006 4:46 PM

kevo

Douglas J. Steele wrote:

> This newsgroup is for questions about security in Access, the database
> product that's part of Office Professional.
>
> You'd be better off reposting your question to a newsgroup related to Word.
>

sorry wrong group/

2 Oct 2006 4:40 AM

Chris Mills

Bear in mind, that opening files with the wrong "manipulator" can scrogg it.

Since this is an Access newsgroup, opening an Access database mdb in Word will
most likely render it to history and unrecoverable.

By anyone...

Chris