CVE-2025-53741
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 vulnerability in Microsoft Office Excel that allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. The vulnerability stems from improper bounds checking when Excel processes certain data, leading to heap memory corruption and potential 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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Verify Excel is installedOpen Excel and go to File > Account, or run 'winword --version' or check Programs and Features for Microsoft ExcelAffected if Excel is not installed, the system is not affected by this Excel-specific vulnerability
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Determine installed Excel version numberIn Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel, or check the version in File > Options > Account, or look in Add/Remove ProgramsAffected if Version cannot be determined or is earlier than 2016 (the lowest affected version)
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Identify the Office product typeCheck if the Excel installation is part of Microsoft 365 Apps, Office 2016/2019, Office LTSC 2021/2024, or Office Online Server by checking the product name in Account > About or in installed programsAffected if Product is any of: Microsoft 365 Apps (all versions), Excel >= 2016, Office >= 2019, Office LTSC >= 2021 or = 2024, or Office Online Server (all versions)
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Confirm vulnerability trigger conditionThe flaw requires Excel to process specially crafted files with malicious data structures - the vulnerability is triggered when opening such filesAffected if Excel processes files from untrusted sources with the malformed data structures this CVE targets
The environment is affected if Microsoft Excel is installed and its version falls within the >= 2016 range for standalone Office/Excel, or is any version of Microsoft 365 Apps, Office LTSC 2021/2024, or Office Online Server.
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 as they become available. Until patch deployment, exercise caution with Excel files from untrusted sources and consider enabling Protected View in Office to mitigate risk.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-53741 — 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-2025-53741 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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- 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
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