Product:
Microsoft Office Excel
Summary
Heap-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office Excel 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-2026-40362 |
Exploitation
To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must have local access to the affected system and must convince a user to interact with a malicious file or application. Once the user opens the compromised file, the attacker can execute arbitrary code with the same privileges as the user, potentially leading to a complete system compromise.
Affected Products
- Microsoft Office Excel: A widely used spreadsheet application that is vulnerable to heap-based buffer overflow attacks.
Mitigation
To mitigate this vulnerability, users should ensure that they are using the latest version of Microsoft Office Excel and apply any available security updates. Additionally, users should avoid opening untrusted files and be cautious of any prompts that require user interaction.