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365 AppsApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2025-29820

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-04-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Use after free in Microsoft Office Word allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

CVE-2025-29820 is a use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word that allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. The vulnerability stems from improper memory management in Word's handling of specially crafted documents, where memory is accessed after being freed, leading to arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for Office Word as soon as they become available. Until patches are deployed, users should be warned not to open untrusted or unexpected Word documents and Protected View should be enabled.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
365 AppsApplication
Affected:all versions
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2016= 2019
Office Long Term Servicing ChannelApplication
Affected:= 2021= 2024
Sharepoint Enterprise ServerApplication
Affected:= 2016

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Microsoft Office Word version
    Open Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or check File > Help to view the version number. Alternatively, check the Word executable properties: locate WINWORD.EXE (typically in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\OfficeXX or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\OfficeXX), right-click and view Details to see the Product version.
    Affected if The installed version matches 2016, 2019, 2021, or 2024, or is part of Microsoft 365 Apps (any version) - compare your version against the affected ranges provided.
  2. Confirm Word component is present
    Verify that the WINWORD.EXE executable exists on the system by checking the Office installation directory.
    Affected if WINWORD.EXE is present, indicating Word is installed and the vulnerability could potentially be triggered.
  3. Check for vulnerable document handling behavior
    Since the vulnerability is triggered when Word opens specially crafted documents, check if the application is configured to automatically open documents from untrusted sources. Review trusted location settings in File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Trusted Locations.
    Affected if Documents from untrusted or unknown sources can be opened directly without warnings, increasing the likelihood of exploitation if the vulnerable version is in use.
  4. Verify SharePoint Server 2016 if applicable
    If Microsoft SharePoint Enterprise Server 2016 is deployed, check the SharePoint version by opening SharePoint Central Administration > System Settings > Manage servers in this farm, or use PowerShell: Get-SPFarm | Select-Object BuildVersion.
    Affected if SharePoint Server 2016 is installed and the build version matches the affected release, as SharePoint includes Word parsing components that may be affected.

A system is affected if the installed Microsoft Office Word version is 2016, 2019, 2021, or 2024, or if Microsoft 365 Apps (any version) is in use, and the Word component is present to process documents.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates for Office Word as soon as they become available. Until patches are deployed, users should be warned not to open untrusted or unexpected Word documents and Protected View should be enabled.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Install the Microsoft security update for CVE-2025-29820 (check msrc.microsoft.com for the specific KB number for your Office version)

  1. Check Microsoft Security Response Center (msrc.microsoft.com) for CVE-2025-29820 to obtain the specific KB article number for your Office version
  2. Open Microsoft Word and go to File > Account > Update Options
  3. Select 'Update Now' to download and install the latest security updates
  4. Alternatively, manually download the applicable KB from Microsoft Update Catalog based on your Office version (2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, or 365 Apps)
  5. Restart all Microsoft Office applications after the update is applied
  6. Verify the update was installed by checking File > Account > Update History

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in 365 Apps Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-29820 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data