CVE-2026-97768

Summary

A heap-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office Excel allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code when processing malicious Excel files. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be triggered over a network without user interaction, making it ideal for remote exploitation.

Exploitability

Exploitation is moderately difficult as it requires crafting a malicious Excel file that triggers the buffer overflow, but once triggered, it provides high privilege code execution with minimal preconditions.

Blast radius

The vulnerability affects all major Microsoft 365 and Office versions, making it highly impactful across enterprise environments where Excel files are commonly shared and opened.

Detection

No reliable host or network indicator is derivable from the published description.

Prioritized remediation

Deploy the Microsoft Office 2021 version 2408 or later, or Microsoft Office 2024 version 2408 or later, as these contain the necessary security patches to address this heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability.

Analysis generated locally by garnet-coder (no data left the box). AI-assisted — verify against primary sources before acting.