Horizon Alert
Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters
Microsoft Office and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) are affected by a vulnerability. The flaw allows local users to elevate their privileges by loading a Trojan horse DLL from the current working directory. This could lead to significant business risk if exploited.
- Vulnerable Microsoft Office and VBA
- Flaw allows privilege escalation
- Main impact is business risk
Attack Path
How an attacker could exploit the issue
This vulnerability affects Microsoft Office, Visual Basic for Applications, and the Visual Basic for Applications SDK. An attacker can exploit this by tricking a user into opening a document in a specially crafted directory. This action allows the attacker to load a malicious library, potentially leading to unauthorized control.
- Local user opens malicious document.
- Attacker loads Trojan horse DLL.
- Attacker gains elevated privileges.
Live Threat
Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context
This vulnerability allows for elevated privileges through a Trojan horse DLL, as demonstrated by a directory containing a malicious document. An attacker could exploit this by tricking a user into opening a specially crafted document. Organizations should assess their exposure to this local privilege escalation threat.
- Likely attacker skill level: Low
- Required access or conditions: Local access and user interaction
- Business risk or urgency: Moderate risk
Priority actions
Operational Fix
Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps
This vulnerability in Microsoft Office allows local users to gain privileges by loading a Trojan horse DLL. Attackers can exploit this by creating a malicious DLL in a directory that also contains a specially crafted document. This could lead to unauthorized access and control of affected systems, posing a business risk to data confidentiality, integrity, and system availability.
- Identify all Office installations.
- Isolate affected systems from the network.
- Apply vendor security updates and verify.
- Monitor for suspicious activity.
