CVE-2026-45486
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 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 confidenceUse-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word that allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally due to improper memory handling when processing specially crafted documents.
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 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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Confirm Microsoft Office Word installationOpen Word and go to File > Account, or run 'winword.exe --version' from Command Prompt to verify Word is installedAffected if Word is installed on the system
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Identify installed Word versionIn Word, go to File > Account > About Word to see the version number, or check the WinWord.exe file properties in the Office installation folder (typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\OfficeXX or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\OfficeXX)Affected if The installed version falls within Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft 365, Office 2021, or Office 2024 product lines
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Check Windows Update history for CVE-2026-45486Open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history, or run 'wmic qfe list' from Command Prompt to list installed updates. Search for any update installed around the CVE release date that mentions Word or CVE-2026-45486Affected if No security update addressing CVE-2026-45486 appears in the installed updates list
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Verify Office Click-to-Run update statusFor Microsoft 365 or Microsoft 365 Apps, open any Office app, go to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now to check if updates are available, or run 'officec2rclient.exe /displayupdate' to see current version statusAffected if Office reports as outdated or no recent security patch is applied
The system is affected if Microsoft Office Word is installed and the CVE-2026-45486 security update has not been applied.
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 once available, maintain current Office version, and ensure endpoint detection and response protections are active.
- 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-2026-45486 — 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-2026-45486 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