Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessDeliver crafted PowerPoint file via email
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ExploitVictim opens or previews document
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ExecutionTrigger use-after-free in Office parser
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ImpactExecute arbitrary code in user context
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Memory lifecycle management
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires an attacker to deliver a specially crafted PowerPoint presentation to the target and have it opened or rendered by a vulnerable Office build - affected products include Microsoft Office LTSC 2021 (<16.0.14334.20974), LTSC 2024 (<16.0.17932.21056), Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, and the macOS Office LTSC 2021/2024 and 365 for Mac editions. The primary limiting factor is that, despite the input vector's UI:N, a file-format use-after-free in PowerPoint realistically depends on the victim opening/previewing the malicious document; there is no evidence of a network-listening service that can be hit without any user action. Code executes with the privileges of the user who opens the file, so least-privilege user contexts limit blast radius. |
| Impact | Raw CVSS rates this 9.8 Critical (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), implying unauthenticated remote code execution with no user interaction. However, this is a file-format use-after-free (CWE-416) in Microsoft Office PowerPoint, and the description's phrasing ('execute code over a network') combined with the product class strongly implies the victim must open or preview a malicious presentation - the UI:N metric conflicts with the realistic delivery model for Office document parsing bugs (verify with Microsoft; preview-pane rendering is the usual justification for UI:N on Office flaws). CISA's SSVC framework reports Exploitation: none (no observed exploitation), Automatable: yes, Technical Impact: total - so the technical severity is genuine but there is no current evidence of weaponization. No EPSS score was provided, the CVE is not in CISA KEV, and no public exploit was supplied, so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis. Net: a legitimately high-impact, high-prevalence memory-corruption bug that warrants prompt patching given SSVC 'total impact' and 'automatable: yes', but it is a priority driven by potential and product ubiquity rather than by confirmed in-the-wild exploitation. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker emails or hosts a crafted PowerPoint file and lures a target into opening (or previewing) it, triggering a use-after-free in the Office parser that yields code execution in the context of the current user. No public exploit code was provided, and SSVC lists exploitation as 'none,' so this is a plausible rather than observed scenario. Factoring in AV:N and AC:L, the technical barrier is low once the file reaches and is opened by the victim. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 13, 2026
Remote code execution in Microsoft PowerPoint allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the opening user by delivering a specially crafted presentation that must be opened or rendered. Affected builds include Microsoft Office LTSC 2021 before 16.0.14334.20974, LTSC 2024 before 16.0.17932.21056, Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, and the macOS Office LTSC 2021/2024 and 365 for Mac editions; vendor patches are available. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, and CISA's SSVC assessment records exploitation as 'none', though the raw CVSS score is 9.8 because successful exploitation yields total confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: 16.0.14334.20974 for Microsoft Office LTSC 2021 and 16.0.17932.21056 for Microsoft Office LTSC 2024; upgrade to these or later builds. For Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise and the macOS Office LTSC 2021/2024 and Office 365 for Mac editions, apply the latest Office updates and consult https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-88178 and, for Microsoft 365 Apps, https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases, since the EUVD data lists '<publication' rather than explicit Mac fix versions. If immediate patching is not possible, compensating controls include enforcing Protected View and Mark-of-the-Web for Office documents, blocking untrusted PowerPoint attachments at email and web gateways, and using Attack Surface Reduction rules to prevent Office applications from creating child processes; these reduce risk but trade off against user productivity and do not eliminate the vulnerability. Disabling macros is not a direct mitigation because the trigger is a crafted presentation file rather than a macro.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 2 packages in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The flaw is a use-after-free (CWE-416) in Microsoft PowerPoint's handling of presentation file structures, where a dangling pointer is dereferenced after the associated memory has been freed, enabling memory corruption and arbitrary code execution. Although the NVD-provided CVSS vector lists UI:N (no user interaction), the authoritative independent assessment adjusts this to UI:R, reflecting that exploitation depends on the victim opening or previewing a malicious PowerPoint document; there is no network-listening service that can be triggered without user action. The affected products are identified via EUVD version data: Microsoft Office LTSC 2021 (<16.0.14334.20974), LTSC 2024 (<16.0.17932.21056), Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise (update via https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases), and macOS Office LTSC 2021/2024 and Office 365 for Mac, for which no explicit fixed build numbers are listed (shown as '<publication'). No CPE strings were provided in the input data. The scope is unchanged (S:U), meaning code executes within the Office process's security context rather than crossing a sandbox boundary. The CVSS 9.8 score reflects high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact if the use-after-free is successfully triggered.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Network-delivered crafted file with low complexity and no privileges, but a PowerPoint document UAF realistically needs the victim to open the file, so UI:R; impact is full RCE (C/I/A:H).
Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).
CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
Use after free in Microsoft Office PowerPoint allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.
Executive ViewAI
A critical remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft PowerPoint affects Office LTSC 2021, Office LTSC 2024, Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, and the matching Mac editions, allowing a specially crafted presentation to run arbitrary code with the privileges of the user who opens or renders it. Because PowerPoint is installed across nearly every knowledge-worker and executive desktop in the organization, a single malicious file delivered by email or collaboration platform could compromise an endpoint and everything that user can reach. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis and vendor patches are available, so this is a manageable patching priority rather than an active incident.
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Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Use-after-free vulnerabilities occur when a program continues to access memory through a pointer after that memory has been deallocated.
Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
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EUVD-2026-99733
GHSA-cm9h-wc7c-f2hr
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB