Skip to main content
Live Webinar with SANS (June 25)— Agentic CTI Automation for Fun & ProfitRegister Free
Mallory
High

Microsoft Word Use-After-Free Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

IdentifiersCVE-2025-49698CWE-416· Use After Free

CVE-2025-49698 is a Microsoft Word remote code execution vulnerability caused by a use-after-free condition in Microsoft Office Word. Microsoft classifies it under CWE-416. The flaw occurs when Word accesses memory after it has already been freed, which can lead to memory corruption and attacker-controlled code execution. Microsoft states that exploitation can be triggered by convincing a user to open a specially crafted file, and the Preview Pane is also an attack vector. Although titled as a remote code execution vulnerability, the CVSS attack vector is Local because exploitation occurs through local handling of malicious content rather than direct network reachability.

Share:
For your environment

Are you exposed to this one?

Mallory correlates every CVE against your assets, your vendors, and active adversary campaigns. Know which vulnerabilities matter for you, not just which ones are loud.

ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can result in arbitrary code execution in the context of the affected user. Microsoft rates confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact as High, indicating the attacker may be able to fully compromise the user’s data and execution context, including reading or modifying data and causing application or system instability.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Until patches are fully deployed, reduce exposure by avoiding opening untrusted Office documents and treating externally sourced Word files as hostile. Because Microsoft states the Preview Pane is an attack vector, organizations should consider disabling or restricting Preview Pane use where operationally feasible, especially for mail workflows handling untrusted attachments. Standard hardening measures such as Protected View, attachment filtering, and limiting execution privileges can further reduce risk, though the provided content does not specify Microsoft-issued workaround guidance beyond installing updates.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply Microsoft’s July 2025 security updates for affected Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office products. Microsoft also confirmed that security updates for Microsoft Office LTSC for Mac 2021 and 2024 were available as of July 15, 2025; those updates should be installed on affected Mac systems.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
Microsoft Corporation365 Appsapplication
Microsoft CorporationOfficeapplication
Microsoft CorporationOffice 2019application
Microsoft CorporationOffice 2021application
Microsoft CorporationOffice 2024application
Microsoft CorporationOffice Long Term Servicing Channelapplication
Microsoft CorporationOffice Macos 2021application
Microsoft CorporationOffice Macos 2024application
Microsoft CorporationWordapplication
Microsoft CorporationWord 2016application

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.
Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.