#Microsoft Office

**Is this advisory related to the vulnerability that is documented by CVE-2023-36884 that was issued in July 2023?** Yes, this defense in depth update is not a vulnerability, but installing this update stops the attack chain leading to the Windows Search security feature bypass vulnerability (CVE-2023-36884). Microsoft recommends installing the Office updates discussed in this advisory as well as installing the Windows updates from August 2023.

**According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R). What interaction would the user have to do?** The user would have to click on install to be compromised by the attacker.

**According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R). What interaction would the user have to do?** The user would have to click on install to be compromised by the attacker.

**What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability?** An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could execute RPC functions that are restricted to local clients only.

**According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R). What interaction would the user have to do?** Exploitation of the vulnerability requires the victim to open a specially crafted file and click through Office Security Prompt(s). An attacker would have no way to force users to open the file., * In an email attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending the specially crafted file to the user and convincing the user to open the file. * In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a website (or leverage a compromised website that accepts or hosts user-provided content) containing a specially crafted file designed to exploit the vulnerability.

* Customers who use Microsoft Defender for Office are protected from attachments that attempt to exploit this vulnerability. * In current attack chains, the use of the Block all Office applications from creating child processes Attack Surface Reduction Rule will prevent the vulnerability from being exploited. * Organizations who cannot take advantage of these protections can set the FEATURE\_BLOCK\_CROSS\_PROTOCOL\_FILE\_NAVIGATION registry key to avoid exploitation. Please note that while these registry settings would mitigate exploitation of this issue, it could affect regular functionality for certain use cases related to these applications. Add the following application names to this registry key as values of type REG\_DWORD with data 1.: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BLOCK_CROSS_PROTOCOL_FILE_NAVIGATION * Excel.exe * Graph.exe * MSAccess.exe * MSPub.exe * PowerPoint.exe * Visio.exe * WinP...

**According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R). What interaction would the user have to do?** Exploitation of the vulnerability requires the victim to open a specially crafted file and click through Office Security Prompt(s). An attacker would have no way to force users to open the file., * In an email attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending the specially crafted file to the user and convincing the user to open the file. * In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a website (or leverage a compromised website that accepts or hosts user-provided content) containing a specially crafted file designed to exploit the vulnerability.

**What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability?** An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could execute RPC functions that are restricted to local clients only.

**Is the Preview Pane an attack vector for this vulnerability?** No, the Preview Pane is not an attack vector.

**Is the Preview Pane an attack vector for this vulnerability?** No, the Preview Pane is not an attack vector.