CVE-2025-24082
Published: 11 March 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-24082 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 43.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-16 (Memory Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-24082 is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in Microsoft Office Excel. It affects the Excel component of Microsoft Office, enabling an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally on a victim's machine. The vulnerability was published on 2025-03-11 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
An unauthorized local attacker can exploit this vulnerability by tricking a user into performing an action, such as opening a malicious Excel file, due to the requirement for user interaction and local access vector with low attack complexity and no privileges needed. Successful exploitation allows arbitrary code execution in the context of the affected process, potentially leading to full local compromise of the system.
Microsoft has published details and guidance in its update guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2025-24082, which security practitioners should consult for patch availability and mitigation recommendations.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-6355
Vulnerability details
Use after free in Microsoft Office Excel allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Use-after-free in Excel enables arbitrary code execution via malicious file opened by user, directly mapping to client-side exploitation and malicious file execution.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly remediates the use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Office Excel by requiring timely application of vendor-provided patches.
Implements memory protections such as DEP, ASLR, and stack canaries that prevent successful exploitation of the use-after-free error in Excel.
Deploys anti-malware scanning to identify and block malicious Excel files crafted to trigger the use-after-free vulnerability.