CVE-2024-38226Known exploitation

Macro policy bypass via crafted document

Published Sep 10, 2024 · Updated Aug 10, 2026

Protection mechanism failure in Microsoft Publisher 2016, Office 2019, and Office LTSC 2021 allows local users to bypass macro policies. Publisher mishandles a crafted document so Office does not apply policies that block macros in untrusted or malicious files; Microsoft has not disclosed the faulty parsing or policy-enforcement locus. Exploitation requires a user with local access to open the file, after which blocked macro content can run with that user's privileges.

CVSS severity7.3
High
EPSS probability2.67%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationReported
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Protection mechanism failure in Microsoft Publisher 2016, Office 2019, and Office LTSC 2021 allows local users to bypass macro policies. Publisher mishandles a crafted document so Office does not apply policies that block macros in untrusted or malicious files; Microsoft has not disclosed the faulty parsing or policy-enforcement locus. Exploitation requires a user with local access to open the file, after which blocked macro content can run with that user's privileges.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-38226
Published
Sep 10, 2024
Updated
Aug 10, 2026
Vendor
Microsoft
Product
Microsoft Office 2019
Classifications
CWE-693, T1204.002
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 10, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 10, 2026Record 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=19.0.0 <https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Microsoft · Microsoft Office 2019version=19.0.0 <https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
Microsoft · Microsoft Publisher 2016version=16.0.0 <16.0.5465.1001
Microsoft · Microsoft Office LTSC 2021version=16.0.1 <https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases

Published CVSS scores

7.3Microsoft CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationReported
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-693Protection Mechanism Failure
T1204.002User Execution: Malicious File

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Reported exploitation

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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