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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 Mar 2026.
365 AppsApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2026-21514

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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
Reliance on untrusted inputs in a security decision in Microsoft Office Word allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature 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

This vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word allows a local attacker to bypass a security feature by exploiting untrusted inputs in a security decision. The reliance on untrusted data enables circumvention of security controls without requiring remote access or elevated privileges.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for Office Word when available. Until then, restrict local access to systems handling sensitive documents and monitor for suspicious Word document handling.

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
Office Long Term Servicing ChannelApplication
Affected:= 2021= 2024

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 run 'winword.exe /?' from Command Prompt to display version information. Alternatively, check in Control Panel > Programs and Features for Microsoft Office installations.
    Affected if The version displayed is Microsoft 365 Apps (any version), Office Long Term Servicing Channel 2021, or Office Long Term Servicing Channel 2024.
  2. Confirm Word application presence
    Verify Microsoft Word is installed by checking for WINWORD.EXE in typical locations such as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office## or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office##, or by querying the Windows Registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\WINWORD.EXE.
    Affected if WINWORD.EXE is found on the system and corresponds to an affected version listed in step 1.
  3. Review Office Trust Center security settings
    Open Word > File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings. Examine settings related to macro execution, ActiveX controls, Protected View, and file block behavior, as these represent security mechanisms that could be bypassed by untrusted input manipulation.
    Affected if Security settings are configured (any configuration), as the vulnerability allows bypass of these mechanisms regardless of their enabled state.
  4. Check for recent security updates
    Open Word > File > Account > Update Options > View Update History, or check Windows Update history for installed updates related to Microsoft Office. Alternatively, use the Office Click-to-Run configuration tool to view installed updates.
    Affected if No recent Office security updates have been installed, indicating the system may be running an unpatched vulnerable version.

The environment is affected if Microsoft Word is installed with a version falling within Microsoft 365 Apps (all versions), Office LTSC 2021, or Office LTSC 2024, as these versions contain the security feature bypass vulnerability.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates for Office Word when available. Until then, restrict local access to systems handling sensitive documents and monitor for suspicious Word document handling.

Fix this in 365 Apps Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,560
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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-2026-21514 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