365 AppsApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2026-47642

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 16.0.10417.20175 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges 5 weeks old

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
Use after free in Microsoft Office Excel allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally.

In the news

Third-party coverage
Trending covered by 1 outlet this week · latest 1mo ago

Surfaced from public web coverage — external links open in a new tab.

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

Use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Office Excel that allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. The flaw involves improper memory management where memory is accessed after being freed, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for Office Excel when available; consider disabling macro execution and enabling Protected View for untrusted files as defense-in-depth measures.

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
Microsoft 365Application
Affected:all versions
Office 2019Application
Affected:all versions
Office 2021Application
Affected:all versions
Office 2024Application
Affected:all versions
Office Online ServerApplication
Affected:< 16.0.10417.20175

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. Confirm Microsoft Office Excel is installed
    Open Excel and go to File > Account, or check for Excel.exe in typical install paths such as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\
    Affected if Excel.exe is present on the system
  2. Identify the installed Office/Excel version
    In Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel. Alternatively, run 'winver' or check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\InstallRoot for the version value
    Affected if The installed version matches any of the affected products: Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft 365, Office 2019, Office 2021, Office 2024, or Office Online Server build less than 16.0.10417.20175
  3. For Office Online Server, verify the exact build number
    Check the installed build of Office Online Server by reviewing the installed packages or running Get-OfficeWebAppsServer in PowerShell on the server, or check the version of ExcelServices.exe or related Excel Online components
    Affected if The build number is below 16.0.10417.20175
  4. Determine if macro execution is enabled
    In Excel, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings. Check if macros are set to 'Enable all macros' or 'Disable with notification'
    Affected if Macros are enabled without restrictions, increasing the likelihood of successful exploitation if a malicious file is opened
  5. Verify Protected View status for untrusted files
    In Excel, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Protected View. Check if Protected View is enabled for files originating from the internet and other potentially unsafe locations
    Affected if Protected View is disabled for internet and email attachments, making the system more vulnerable to malicious Excel files

If Microsoft Office Excel is installed and the version falls within the affected product ranges (including all versions of Office 2019/2021/2024 and Microsoft 365, or Office Online Server builds below 16.0.10417.20175), the environment is potentially affected by this use-after-free 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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 16.0.10417.20175 or later
Fixed in 16.0.10417.20175
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates for Office Excel when available; consider disabling macro execution and enabling Protected View for untrusted files as defense-in-depth measures.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Apply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2026-47642 when released; for Office Online Server, upgrade to version 16.0.10417.20175 or later

  1. Monitor Microsoft Update Catalog and MSRC (msrc.microsoft.com) for the official security bulletin and patches for CVE-2026-47642
  2. Apply available Microsoft security updates for Microsoft Office Excel as soon as they are released
  3. Verify the update installation by checking Office application version information (File > Account > About Excel)
  4. Ensure endpoint detection and monitoring solutions are active to detect any exploitation attempts
Caveat Standard Office update risks - test critical macros and add-ins in a non-production environment before broad deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in 365 Apps Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-47642 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-47642 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