CVE-2026-20948
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 · uneditedUntrusted pointer dereference 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 confidenceAn untrusted pointer dereference vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word allows local code execution. The flaw occurs when Word processes a specially crafted document that contains malformed data, causing the application to dereference an invalid pointer and potentially execute arbitrary code with the user's privileges.
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= 2016= 2019= 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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Check installed Microsoft Word versionOpen Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or run 'winword /?' from command prompt, or check Programs and Features for Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word entryAffected if Version is 2016, 2019, 2021, or 2024, or the product shows as Microsoft 365 Apps
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Check Microsoft Office installation and versionOpen any Office app, go to File > Account, or check Programs and Features for Microsoft Office entries, or run 'msinfo32' and look at Software Environment > Running Tasks for Office componentsAffected if Office version is 2019, 2021, or 2024, or subscription shows as Microsoft 365
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Check Microsoft SharePoint Server versionCheck Programs and Features for Microsoft SharePoint Server entries, or check the SharePoint Central Administration site footer for version number, or review installation documentationAffected if SharePoint Server 2016 or 2019 is installed
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Verify if Word processes malformed documentsAttempt to open a test document with malformed RTF/WordML data, or review event logs Application and Security for Word crash events with error code relating to untrusted pointerAffected if Word crashes or exhibits unexpected behavior when processing crafted documents
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Check Protected View configurationGo to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Protected View, or check registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Word\Security\ProtectedViewAffected if Protected View is disabled (all three options unchecked) and user opens documents from untrusted sources
Your environment is affected if Microsoft Word, Office 2019/2021/2024, Microsoft 365 Apps, or SharePoint Server 2016/2019 is installed and you process documents without Protected View enabled.
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 Word when released. Until then, avoid opening documents from untrusted sources and enable Protected View in Office to limit exposure.
- 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-2026-20948 — 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-2026-20948 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