CVE-2026-45645
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 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 confidenceThis is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office where the software dereferences a pointer that it does not properly validate or control. An attacker can exploit this to execute arbitrary code locally on the affected system, typically by convincing a user to open a specially crafted Office document.
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 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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Identify installed Microsoft Office productsOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, or use command 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion' in PowerShell to list installed Office applicationsAffected if Any Microsoft Office product from the affected list is present (Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft 365, Office 2016, Office 2019, Office 2021, or Office 2024)
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Confirm Office version and build numberOpen any Office application (Word, Excel, etc.), go to File > Account, and check the version information under 'About [App]'. Alternatively, run 'winword.exe /?' or 'excel.exe /?' from Command Prompt to display version infoAffected if The installed version matches any released version of the affected products (all versions are vulnerable)
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Verify Office click-to-run installationOpen Command Prompt and run: 'cd %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\root\Office' then 'dir' to see installed Office structure, or check Program Files for Office executable filesAffected if Office executables (winword.exe, excel.exe, etc.) are found in standard Office installation directories, indicating an affected installation
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Check for pending Office updatesOpen any Office app, go to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now, or check Windows Update history for recent Office security patchesAffected if No recent security updates have been applied, or the vulnerability remains unpatched regardless of version
If any Microsoft Office product from the affected list (Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft 365, Office 2016, 2019, 2021, or 2024) is installed and running, the environment is considered affected since all versions are vulnerable.
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 the latest Microsoft Office security updates immediately. Ensure Microsoft Office is kept current via automatic updates or manual patching. Exercise caution with Office files from untrusted sources and consider enabling Protected View for documents from external sources.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,504.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-45645 — 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-2026-45645 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