CVEvulnerability
CVE-2026-21509
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability
Microsoft Office Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability — Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office contains a security feature bypass vulnerability in which reliance on untrusted inputs in a security decision in Microsoft Office could allow an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature locally. Some of the impacted product(s) could be end-of-life (EoL) and/or end-of-service (EoS). Users are advised to discontinue use and/or transition to a supported version.
- Added to KEV
- 2026-01-26
- Remediation due
- 2026-02-16
- Ransomware use
- Unknown
- Required action
- Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
- Notes
- Please adhere to Microsoft’s recommended guidelines to address this vulnerability. Implement all final mitigations provided by the vendor for Office 2021, and apply the interim corresponding mitigations for Office 2016 and Office 2019 until the final patch becomes available. For more information please see: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-21509 ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-21509
- Status
- Analyzed
- Published
- 2026-01-26
- Last modified
- 2026-06-25
- Assigner
- [email protected]
- CVSS 3.1 ([email protected])
- 7.8 HIGH — CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Weaknesses
- CWE-807
Description
Reliance on untrusted inputs in a security decision in Microsoft Office allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature locally.
Affected configurations
• microsoft 365 apps
• microsoft office 2016
• microsoft office 2019
• microsoft office long term servicing channel 2021
• microsoft office long term servicing channel 2024
Related
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-807 Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision weakness
References
- https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-21509 Vendor Advisory
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-21509-detection-script-microsoft-office-security-feature-bypass-vulnerability Third Party Advisory
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-21509-mitigation-script-microsoft-office-security-feature-bypass-vulnerability Mitigation, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-21509 US Government Resource