Background exploitation KEV catalog
CVE-2026-21509

Microsoft Office Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Reliance on untrusted inputs in a security decision in Microsoft Office allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature locally.

CheckOps priority index
7.0/10 Patch within 7 days
Severity7.8
Probability7.1
Exploitation3/5

Severity = CVSS. Probability = EPSS (FIRST). Exploitation = public signals: KEV, EUVD, ransomware, EPSS above 10 %, no account required.

EPSS · today 70.8% higher than 99.4% of CVEs
CVSS 3.1 7.8 AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:
Exploited for 281 days 26 Jan 2026
CISA due date 16 Feb 2026 for US federal agencies

Exploitation probability EPSS · FIRST

05010025 Sep05 Oct15 Oct24 Oct02 Nov
EPSS probability (%)Percentile among all CVEs

Exploitation signals 3 / 5

  • KEV catalog (CISA)26 Jan 2026
  • Exploited in EUVD (ENISA)26 Jan 2026
  • Used by ransomwareno
  • EPSS above 10 %70.8%
  • No account, over the networkno

What to do

Fix

Apply the vendor’s fix as soon as it is available.

CISA guidance: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Meanwhile

Take the service off the internet or restrict access to it, watch the logs and look for signs of compromise.

Manufacturers (CRA)

Exploited vulnerability in your product: early warning to ENISA within 24 h, then notification within 72 h (Article 14 of the Cyber Resilience Act). The CRA explained

Affected products

Microsoft Office 2019Microsoft Office LTSC 2021Microsoft Office LTSC 2024Microsoft 365 Apps for EnterpriseMicrosoft Office 2016Office
Affected versions
  • 19.0.0 <16.0.10417.20095
  • 16.0.1 <https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
  • 16.0.0 <https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
  • 16.0.0 <16.0.5539.1001
Weaknesses (CWE)

Open source packages OSV

Affected libraries according to OSV, with fixed versions.

Timeline

  1. Published

  2. Exploitation reported (ENISA)

  3. Added to the KEV catalog

  4. CISA remediation due date

  5. EPSS peak: 72.9%

References

Other exploited vulnerabilities from the same vendor

  • CVE-2026-96951Microsoft Windows Command Injection Vulnerability
    5.6 · Actively exploited
  • CVE-2026-65660Microsoft SharePoint Code Injection Vulnerability
    5.0 · Actively exploited
  • CVE-2026-85880Microsoft Windows Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
    4.3 · Actively exploited
  • CVE-2026-81963Microsoft Windows Link Following Vulnerability
    4.3 · Actively exploited
  • CVE-2019-1068Microsoft SQL Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
    7.0 · Actively exploited
  • CVE-2026-69836Microsoft Entra
    5.3 · Actively exploited

Are you affected?

CheckOps reads your SBOMs and scans, and alerts you as soon as one of your dependencies is exploited.

Get notified at launch

Sources: CISA KEV · ENISA EUVD · FIRST EPSS · OSV. Public data aggregated by CheckOps, updated automatically. Source texts remain the property of their authors. All exploited vulnerabilities