Microsoft Office is widely used; local RCE via a use-after-free could disrupt orgs across sectors.
CVE-2026-20952
Office use-after-free enables local code execution.
Is CVE-2026-20952 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-20952 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.53% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-20952?
CVE-2026-20952 is rated High with a CVSS score of 8.4. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-20952?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-20952. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-20952 affect?
CVE-2026-20952 affects Microsoft Office. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-20952?
Apply the latest Office security updates.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Attacker can execute arbitrary code on the victim machine via a crafted Office document.
Patch when possible
- affected>= 16.0.1 and < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
- affected>= 16.0.0 and < 16.0.5535.1000
- affected>= 19.0.0 and < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
- affected>= 16.0.1 and < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
- affected>= 16.0.0 and < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
- affected>= 16.0.1 and < 16.105.26011018
- affected>= 16.0.0 and < 16.105.26011018
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.