CVE-2026-45461
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 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 memory corruption vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office that allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. This occurs when the application attempts to access memory that has already been freed, potentially leading to 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 versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 if any Microsoft Office product is installedOpen Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or run Get-WindowsProgram in PowerShell to list installed software. Look for Office applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or the Microsoft 365 suite.Affected if Any Microsoft Office application or Microsoft 365 suite is listed as installed on the system
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Identify the installed Office product name and versionOpen an Office application (such as Word), go to File > Account, and note the version information displayed under 'About [App]'. Alternatively, run 'winver' or check the registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration for Microsoft 365/Office installations.Affected if The installed product matches any of: Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365, Office 2016, Office 2019, Office 2021, or Office 2024
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Verify the vulnerability applies to the installed versionSince the CVE states all versions of the affected products are vulnerable, compare your identified product from step 2 against the list: Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365, Office 2016, Office 2019, Office 2021, Office 2024.Affected if The installed product is any of the listed affected products (all versions are considered vulnerable per the CVE)
If Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365 is installed on the system, the environment is affected because all versions of the listed products are vulnerable to this use-after-free flaw.
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 vendor patches from Microsoft when available. Until a patch is released, restrict local access to Office documents from untrusted sources and monitor for indicators of compromise.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-45461 — 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-2026-45461 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