CVE-2025-47175: Use After Free Vulnerability in Microsoft Office PowerPoint

Overview

The CVE-2025-47175 pertains to a serious vulnerability residing in Microsoft Office PowerPoint. This flaw, categorized as a use-after-free vulnerability, enables unauthorized attackers to execute code locally on affected systems. As PowerPoint is a widely used application around the globe, millions of users and organizations are potentially at risk. This vulnerability is particularly worrisome as it provides a gateway for attackers to compromise systems or leak sensitive data, thereby posing a significant threat to an organization’s cybersecurity structure.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-47175
Severity: High (7.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Microsoft Office PowerPoint | All versions prior to the vendor patch

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability exploits a use-after-free condition within the PowerPoint application. In programming, a “use after free” flaw occurs when a program continues to use memory after it has been freed and can be re-allocated for other tasks. This can lead to a number of undesirable outcomes, including code corruption, faulty executions, or in more severe cases like this, unauthorized code execution.
In the case of CVE-2025-47175, an attacker can craft a malicious PowerPoint document that, when opened by a user, exploits the use after free vulnerability to execute arbitrary code. This code runs with the same privileges as the user, potentially leading to a full system compromise if the user has administrative rights.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited. This pseudo-code represents a potential malicious payload embedded in a PowerPoint document:

def exploit_CVE-2025-47175():
payload = """
# Arbitrary code here
"""
create_powerpoint_document_with_payload(payload)
if exploit_successful:
execute_code_with_current_user_privileges()

This pseudo-code represents the creation of a PowerPoint document containing a malicious payload. If the exploit is successful (i.e., the document is opened by a user, and the use-after-free condition is triggered), the arbitrary code is executed with the same privileges as the current user.
The exact nature of the code would depend on the attacker’s goal, but could include actions such as downloading additional malware, creating a backdoor, or exfiltrating sensitive data.