CVE-2026-41101
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 · uneditedImproper access control in Microsoft Office Word allows an authorized attacker to perform spoofing 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 · low confidenceImproper access control in Microsoft Office Word allows an authorized attacker to perform spoofing locally. This appears to be a local security bypass where the application fails to properly validate user identity or document integrity, enabling an authenticated attacker to impersonate another user or entity within the Word environment.
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< 16.0.19822.20190CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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 Microsoft Word is installedOpen Word application or check Program Files for Microsoft Office installation (typically in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office)Affected if Microsoft Word is present on the system
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Find installed Word version numberOpen Microsoft Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or run 'winword.exe /?' from Command Prompt, or check registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\InstallRootAffected if Version cannot be determined or Word is not found
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Compare version against affected thresholdNote the full version number (e.g., 16.0.xxxxx.xxxx) and compare numerically to 16.0.19822.20190 - any version below this threshold is affectedAffected if Installed version is less than 16.0.19822.20190 (for example, 16.0.19820.20000 or 16.0.14701.20000)
If Microsoft Word is installed and the version number is below 16.0.19822.20190, the environment is affected by this access control bypass vulnerability.
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.
dbcve · scoped16.0.19822.20190
Apply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2026-41101 via Windows Update or Microsoft Update catalog to patch the access control vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word.
Microsoft Office Word version 16.0.19822.20190 or later (including monthly security updates)
- Open Microsoft Word and go to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now
- Alternatively, open any Office app and go to File > Office Account > Update Options > Update
- Ensure Windows Update is enabled and run Windows Update to receive Microsoft Office patches
- Verify the installed version by going to File > Account > About Word and confirm the version is 16.0.19822.20190 or later
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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-2026-41101 — 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-2026-41101 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data