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Critical Word and Excel vulnerabilities persist, endangering thousands of users worldwide

These exploits prey on less security-savvy users

2 min. read

Published onFebruary 13, 2024

published onFebruary 13, 2024

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Microsoft Office is used by millions of users worldwide, but have you wondered how safe Office tools are?

Even though Microsoft is doing its best to keep its users safe, and the company has just releasedKB5035238 which addresses Group Policy Issues, there are still threats that can affect users.

Three security flaws are still wreaking havoc among Office users

Asreported by GBHackers, three common vulnerabilities are still affecting Office users. All these vulnerabilities allow hackers to hide the malware and trick users into opening the infected documents.

According to CheckPoint, in 2023 there were more than 13000 samples that had these vulnerabilities. Regarding the affected file types, these exploits affect DOC(X), XLS(X), and RTF files.

Regarding the most common targets, financial and government institutions are top priorities, however, more than half of attacks are targeting other industries.

The most common exploits are CVE-2017-11882, CVE-2017-0199, and CVE-2018-0802, and they have been used to spread various malware.

These exploits allow hackers to run keyloggers and steal your information, such as online credentials. Some of them can even take screenshots without you knowing.

To trick unsuspected users, these documents will usually have poorly formatted text that you can’t edit unless you enable editing. But as soon you do that, you allow malware to spread.

To stay safe, always practice vigilance and keep your system and applications up to date. Also, don’t open links or attachments from unknown senders, and try to keep aware of the latest threats.

Security breaches can happen, and it seems thatAzure cloud accounts were hackedin the latest breach, so stay tuned for more updates and security news.

More about the topics:Microsoft Excel,Microsoft Word,security

Milan Stanojevic

Windows Toubleshooting Expert

Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he spends most of his time learning about computers and technology.

Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s one of the Troubleshooting experts in our worldwide team, specializing in Windows errors & software issues.

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Milan Stanojevic

Windows Toubleshooting Expert

Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s specialized in Windows errors & software issues.

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low#

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app#

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities#

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount#

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier#

Critical Word and Excel vulnerabilities persist, endangering thousands of users worldwide#

Three security flaws are still wreaking havoc among Office users#