Subj : Microsoft unveils potentially serious Office security flaw  but y
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Mon Aug 12 2024 15:00:05

Microsoft unveils potentially serious Office security flaw  but you probably 
should be safe

Date:
Mon, 12 Aug 2024 13:45:24 +0000

Description:
There are also workarounds, for those unable to patch Office 2016 issue.

FULL STORY
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Microsoft has unveiled a potentially disruptive flaw found in multiple 
versions of its Office office softwar e suite which could allow threat actors 
to access sensitive information. 

The flaw is described as an information disclosure weakness, and is tracked 
as CVE-2024-38200. It affects both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the product, 
including Office 2016, Office 2019, Office LTSC 2021, and Microsoft 365 Apps 
for Enterprise. 

Microsoft argues that threat actors most likely wont seek to exploit the 
flaw, since it requires heavy interaction from the victims side, and mainly 
affects older version of Office not in use for many users these days. Feature 
Flighting 

"In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a website (or 
leverage a compromised website that accepts or hosts user-provided content) 
that contains a specially crafted file that is designed to exploit the 
vulnerability," Microsoft said in its advisory. 

"However, an attacker would have no way to force the user to visit the 
website. Instead, an attacker would have to convince the user to click a 
link, typically by way of an enticement in an email or Instant Messenger 
message, and then convince the user to open the specially crafted file." 

While this sounds like a lot of work, weve seen threat actors successfully 
pull off even more complex attacks that require victims to take multiple 
steps. 

In any case, Microsoft fixed the vulnerability via Feature Flighting on July 
30, BleepingComputer reports. 

"No, we identified an alternative fix to this issue that we enabled via 
Feature Flighting on 7/30/2024," reads the updated CVE-2024-38200 advisory. 
"Customers are already protected on all in-support versions of Microsoft 
Office and Microsoft 365. Customers should still update to the August 13, 
2024 updates for the final version of the fix." 

Those that are unable to apply the patch can work around the issue by 
blocking outbound NTLM traffic to remote servers. More details about the 
mitigation measure can be found here . 

 Via BleepingComputer More from TechRadar Pro Some AMD Zen 2 CPUs finally get 
defenses against Zenbleed security flaw  and its about time Here's a list of 
the best firewalls today These are the best endpoint protection tools right 
now



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/microsoft-unveils-potentially-serious-o
ffice-security-flaw-but-you-probably-should-be-safe


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