Protected View bypass via crafted document
Published Nov 14, 2023 · Updated Oct 8, 2025
Security feature bypass in Microsoft Office allows remote attackers to open crafted files in editing mode instead of Protected View. Office incorrectly assigns editing mode to a malicious document that should be isolated in Protected View; Microsoft has not disclosed the underlying parsing or trust-check defect. Exploitation requires a user to open the crafted file and removes the read-only isolation applied to untrusted document content.
Summary
What happened
Security feature bypass in Microsoft Office allows remote attackers to open crafted files in editing mode instead of Protected View. Office incorrectly assigns editing mode to a malicious document that should be isolated in Protected View; Microsoft has not disclosed the underlying parsing or trust-check defect. Exploitation requires a user to open the crafted file and removes the read-only isolation applied to untrusted document content.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-36413
- Published
- Nov 14, 2023
- Updated
- Oct 8, 2025
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Microsoft Office 2016
- Classifications
- T1204.002
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Nov 14, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 8, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=16.0.0 <16.0.5422.1000
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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