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Mallory
High

Use-after-free in Microsoft Office

IdentifiersCVE-2026-45472CWE-416· Use After Free

CVE-2026-45472 is a critical Microsoft Office memory-corruption vulnerability described in the provided sources as a use-after-free issue, with some references also characterizing it as a heap-based buffer overflow. The affected product is Microsoft Office. Microsoft classifies the impact as remote code execution, but the supplied content states exploitation occurs locally and that the Preview Pane is an attack vector. Successful exploitation can result in arbitrary code execution in the security context of the local user.

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For your environment

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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 allows an unauthorized attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the affected local user/machine. This can lead to compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system, including running malicious payloads, accessing or modifying user data, and further local compromise depending on the victim's privileges.

Mitigation

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

Until patches are fully deployed, reduce exposure by avoiding previewing or opening untrusted Office content, especially where the Preview Pane may process attacker-controlled files. Limit delivery and handling of untrusted Office documents in email and other content channels until updates are installed.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2026-45472. Also monitor MSRC advisory revisions for delayed fixes affecting Microsoft Office LTSC for Mac 2021, Microsoft Office LTSC for Mac 2024, Microsoft 365 for Mac, and Microsoft Office for Android, and deploy those updates as soon as Microsoft releases them.
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 2016application
Microsoft CorporationOffice 2019application
Microsoft CorporationOffice 2021application
Microsoft CorporationOffice 2024application
Microsoft CorporationOffice 365application
Microsoft CorporationOffice Macos 2021application
Microsoft CorporationOffice Macos 2024application

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.