CVE-2025-53737
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 · uneditedHeap-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office Excel 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 confidenceHeap-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office Excel that allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. The vulnerability stems from improper bounds checking during file parsing operations in Excel, enabling memory corruption and arbitrary code execution.
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 dataall versions= 2016= 2019= 2021= 2024all versionsCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Excel version on WindowsOpen Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel, or run 'winword.exe /?' from command line, or check registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel\InstallRootAffected if Version matches Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, or Microsoft 365 Apps (any version)
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Identify installed Office version on WindowsRun 'winword.exe /?' from command line or check registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration for Microsoft 365/Office Click-to-Run installationsAffected if Office version is 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, or Microsoft 365 Apps (any version)
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Check if Excel is present on the systemSearch for excel.exe in common locations: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\, C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\, or check Program Files listing for Office installation directoriesAffected if Excel executable exists on the system and version falls within affected range
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Identify Office Online Server version (if applicable)Check installed programs on server or review Office Online Server installation logs and version information from server management interfaceAffected if Microsoft Office Online Server is installed (all versions affected)
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Confirm Excel file parsing is availableVerify Excel application can open .xlsx, .xls, and other Excel file formats - try opening a spreadsheet or check file association for Excel file types in Windows Default Apps settingsAffected if Excel can parse spreadsheet files - the vulnerable file parsing component is active
Your environment is affected if Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office, or Microsoft Office Online Server is installed with any version from 2016 onward including Microsoft 365 Apps, and the Excel file parsing feature is available.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataApply Microsoft security updates for Office Excel when released. Until patch availability, restrict opening of untrusted or unsolicited Excel files and enable real-time antivirus scanning.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,456.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-53737 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-53737 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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