Product:
Microsoft Office Word
Summary
Untrusted pointer dereference in Microsoft Office Word allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. This vulnerability can lead to significant impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Attackers can exploit this flaw to gain unauthorized access and execute arbitrary code.
Details
| Severity | Base Score | CVE |
|---|---|---|
| HIGH | 7.8 | CVE-2026-20948 |
Exploitation
To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must have local access to the affected system and require user interaction. By manipulating the pointer dereference, the attacker can execute malicious code with the same privileges as the user. This can lead to unauthorized actions being performed on the system.
Affected Products
- Microsoft Office Word: A widely used word processing application that is vulnerable to untrusted pointer dereference.
Mitigation
To mitigate this vulnerability, users should ensure that they apply the latest security updates provided by Microsoft. Additionally, users should avoid opening untrusted documents and be cautious of any prompts that require user interaction.