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Microsoft Office Word CVE-2026-40421

| EUVDEUVD-2026-29678 MEDIUM
External Control of File Name or Path (CWE-73)
2026-05-12 microsoft GHSA-m493-43x7-h3mj
Medium
Disputed · 4.3 NVD
Temporal: 3.8
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Severity by source

Sources disagree (Low–High)
NVD PRIMARY
4.3 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
ENISA EUVD
HIGH
qualitative
CIRCL (temporal)
3.8 LOW
cvss
vuln.today AI
4.3 MEDIUM

Network-delivered via crafted document with no attacker privileges; user must open the file; impact is limited to partial confidentiality disclosure with no integrity or availability consequence.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

vuln.today treats the vendor’s rating as authoritative. A higher third-party CVSS (e.g. CISA-ADP) is shown for transparency but does not drive the headline severity.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Analysis Generated
Jul 23, 2026 - 21:58 vuln.today
CVE Published
May 12, 2026 - 16:58 nvd
MEDIUM 4.3

DescriptionCVE.org

External control of file name or path in Microsoft Office Word allows an unauthorized attacker to disclose information over a network.

AnalysisAI

External control of file name or path (CWE-73) in Microsoft Office Word enables network-based information disclosure when a victim opens a specially crafted document, affecting Word 2016, Office 2019, LTSC 2021/2024, and Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise. An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this to coerce Word into resolving an attacker-controlled file path - likely a UNC path - causing an outbound network request that leaks sensitive data such as NTLM credentials. No active exploitation is confirmed (not listed in CISA KEV), and the EPSS score of 0.05% at the 14th percentile indicates negligible real-world exploitation activity at time of analysis.

Technical ContextAI

CWE-73 (External Control of File Name or Path) describes a weakness where an application constructs file paths using externally-supplied input without adequate neutralization, allowing an attacker to redirect file resolution to unintended locations. In Microsoft Office Word, this class of flaw is classically exploited via crafted document objects (e.g., OLE links, embedded objects, or template references) that embed attacker-controlled UNC paths (e.g., \\attacker-server\share\file), causing the application to initiate an SMB or WebDAV connection to an external host. This outbound connection can expose the victim's NTLM authentication hash or confirm file system metadata. The affected products are confirmed via CPE: cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:microsoft_word_2016, cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:microsoft_office_2019, cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:microsoft_office_ltsc_2021, cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:microsoft_office_ltsc_2024, and cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:microsoft_365_apps_for_enterprise, spanning the full currently-supported Microsoft Office on-premises and subscription portfolio.

RemediationAI

The primary fix is to apply Microsoft's security update for the affected Office product. For Microsoft Word 2016, update to build 16.0.5552.1000 or later - this is the only product for which a specific confirmed fix build number is available from EUVD data. For Microsoft Office 2019, LTSC 2021, LTSC 2024, and Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, apply the patches documented at https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases as directed by the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-40421. As a compensating control prior to patching, administrators can disable automatic resolution of external content in Word via Trust Center settings (File → Options → Trust Center → Trust Center Settings → External Content → Disable all external content), which will prevent Word from initiating outbound file-path resolution; the trade-off is that legitimate linked content and external data connections in documents will also be blocked. Additionally, network-level blocking of outbound SMB (TCP 445) and WebDAV (TCP 80/443) to untrusted external hosts will limit the data exfiltration path, though this may impact legitimate business workflows.

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CVE-2026-40421 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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