CVE-2026-32197

High

Published: 14 April 2026

Published

14 April 2026

Modified

17 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score v3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0007 21.2th percentile

Risk Priority 16 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-32197 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability. 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 21.2th 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-2026-32197 is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) affecting Microsoft Office Excel. Published on 2026-04-14T18:17:26.233, it 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). The issue enables an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally by exploiting memory management flaws in the Excel component.

The vulnerability requires local access to the target system (AV:L) and low attack complexity (AC:L), with no privileges needed from the attacker (PR:N) but user interaction required (UI:R), such as opening a malicious document. Successful exploitation grants arbitrary code execution in the context of the affected user process, resulting in high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H) without scope changes (S:U).

Mitigation details are available in the Microsoft Security Response Center update guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-32197.

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-22579

Vulnerability details

Use after free in Microsoft Office Excel allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally.

CWE(s): CWE-416

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.

attack.mitre.org →

T1204.002 Malicious File Execution

An adversary may rely upon a user opening a malicious file in order to gain execution.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Use-after-free RCE in Excel triggered by opening a malicious document directly enables Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203) and User Execution via Malicious File (T1204.002).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1