CVE-2024-41165
📋 TL;DR
A library injection vulnerability in Microsoft Word 16.83 for macOS allows malicious applications to inject specially crafted libraries, leveraging Word's access privileges to bypass permissions. This affects macOS users running the vulnerable version of Microsoft Word. Attackers could potentially gain unauthorized access to system resources through Word's permissions.
💻 Affected Systems
- Microsoft Word
📦 What is this software?
Word by Microsoft
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise through privilege escalation, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code with Word's permissions, potentially gaining access to sensitive documents and system resources.
Likely Case
Local privilege escalation where a malicious application gains Word's permissions to access protected files or system resources it shouldn't have access to.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper application sandboxing and least privilege principles in place, potentially preventing successful exploitation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires a malicious application to be present on the target system and the user to launch Microsoft Word. This is a local attack vector.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Check Microsoft Security Update for latest version
Vendor Advisory: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2024-41165
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Microsoft Word
2. Go to Help > Check for Updates
3. Install any available updates
4. Restart Microsoft Word
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable automatic library loading
macOSConfigure macOS to restrict library loading from untrusted locations
sudo spctl --master-enable
sudo spctl --enable --label "Developer ID"
Restrict Word execution
macOSUse macOS privacy controls to restrict Word's permissions
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict user permissions to limit Word's access to sensitive resources
- Implement application allowlisting to prevent unauthorized applications from running
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Microsoft Word version in About Word dialog (Word > About Word)Check Version:
defaults read /Applications/Microsoft\ Word.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionStringVerify Fix Applied:
Verify Word version is updated beyond 16.83 and check Microsoft Security Update status📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected library loading by Microsoft Word process
- Word process accessing privileged resources unexpectedly
Network Indicators:
- Not applicable - local vulnerability
SIEM Query:
process_name:"Microsoft Word" AND event_type:"library_load" AND library_path NOT CONTAINS "/Applications/Microsoft Word.app/"