CVE-2025-53735

7.8

Microsoft · Office Excel

A use after free vulnerability in Microsoft Office Excel permits an unauthorized attacker to execute arbitrary code locally.

Executive summary

A use after free vulnerability in Microsoft Excel allows an attacker to execute code locally, posing a significant risk to system integrity and data security.

Vulnerability

This vulnerability is a memory corruption issue involving a use after free condition within Excel. An unauthorized attacker can trigger this flaw by enticing a user to open a specially crafted file, leading to local code execution.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the host system with the privileges of the logged in user. Given the CVSS score of 7.8, this represents a high severity risk that could lead to full system compromise, unauthorized data access, or the deployment of malware within the organization.

Remediation

Immediate Action: Apply the latest security updates provided by Microsoft via the official update guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-53735.

Proactive Monitoring: Monitor endpoint activity for suspicious Excel process behavior, such as unauthorized child process spawning or unexpected network connections.

Compensating Controls: Use application control policies to restrict the execution of untrusted Excel files and ensure that users operate with the principle of least privilege.

Exploitation status

Public Exploit Available: Unknown

Analyst recommendation

This vulnerability presents a high risk to the confidentiality and integrity of workstations running Microsoft Office. Organizations should prioritize the deployment of the vendor provided patches across all affected installations to eliminate the exposure window. Ensure that automated update mechanisms are functioning correctly to maintain a secure posture against such memory corruption flaws.

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