365 AppsApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2026-55123

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Heap-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 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

A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Microsoft Office PowerPoint allows an unauthorized attacker to execute arbitrary code locally by crafting a malicious PowerPoint file.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for Office or upgrade to a patched version of Microsoft Office to remediate this vulnerability.

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
PowerpointApplication
Affected:= 2016

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. Verify PowerPoint installation
    Check for the presence of POWERPNT.EXE in typical Office installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office##\POWERPNT.EXE or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office##\POWERPNT.EXE, or locate via Start menu search
    Affected if PowerPoint executable is found on the system
  2. Identify installed PowerPoint version
    Right-click POWERPNT.EXE, select Properties, then go to the Details tab to read the Product version field, or use Command 'dir POWERPNT.EXE /s' to locate the file and check its version properties
    Affected if The product version displayed is 2016 or matches any version of Office 2019, Office 2021, Office 2024, or Microsoft 365 Apps
  3. Check Office subscription or license version
    Open any Office application, go to File > Account or File > Account Settings > About to view the installed version and update channel information
    Affected if The Office installation shows as Microsoft 365 Apps, Office 2019, Office 2021, or Office 2024 with any version number
  4. Confirm PowerPoint is the vulnerable component
    Since this CVE specifically targets PowerPoint, verify that PowerPoint is the component listed as affected rather than other Office applications
    Affected if PowerPoint is installed and the version matches affected Office product lines

The environment is affected if Microsoft PowerPoint is installed with version 2016, or as part of Microsoft Office 2019, 2021, 2024, or Microsoft 365 Apps any version, as all these versions are listed as vulnerable to this heap-based buffer overflow.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates for Office or upgrade to a patched version of Microsoft Office to remediate this vulnerability.

Fix this in 365 Apps Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,980
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-55123 — 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-2026-55123 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