CVE-2025-53738
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 · uneditedUse 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 confidenceA use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word permits an unauthorized attacker to achieve local code execution. The vulnerability stems from improper memory management where the application continues to reference memory after it has been freed, potentially allowing an attacker to manipulate memory and execute arbitrary code.
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= 2019= 2021= 2024= 2016CVSS 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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Confirm Microsoft Word is installedOpen Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or check C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office for WINWORD.EXEAffected if WINWORD.EXE exists in the Microsoft Office directory structure
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Determine the installed Word version numberOpen Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or run 'WINWORD /?' from command line, or check the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Word\InstallRootAffected if A version number is returned showing Microsoft Word is present
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Compare your version against affected rangesMatch your detected version (e.g., 16.0.xxxx) against: Microsoft 365 Apps (all versions), Office 2019, Office LTSC 2021, Office LTSC 2024, Word 2016Affected if Your installed version falls within Microsoft 365 Apps (any version), equals Office 2019, equals LTSC 2021, equals LTSC 2024, or equals Word 2016
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Check for recent security updatesOpen Word, go to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now, or check Windows Update history for KB articles related to Microsoft Office security patches released after the CVE disclosure dateAffected if No recent Office security updates are installed or the installed version predates the patch
You are affected if Microsoft Word is installed and the installed version matches Microsoft 365 Apps (any version), Office 2019, Office LTSC 2021, Office LTSC 2024, or Word 2016 without the corresponding security patch applied.
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 patches for Office Word immediately; restrict opening of untrusted or unexpected Word documents and enable Protected View as an additional defense layer.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-53738 — 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-2025-53738 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