{"id":56615,"date":"2025-07-02T11:02:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T11:02:02","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-11T22:30:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T04:30:41","slug":"cve-2025-29978-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-powerpoint-allowing-unauthorized-local-code-execution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-29978-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-powerpoint-allowing-unauthorized-local-code-execution\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-29978: Use After Free Vulnerability in Microsoft Office PowerPoint Allowing Unauthorized Local Code Execution<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this blog post, we will be diving deep into a recently identified vulnerability tagged as CVE-2025-29978. This critical vulnerability resides in Microsoft Office&#8217;s PowerPoint software and can potentially allow an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally on the victim&#8217;s machine. The widespread usage of Microsoft Office makes this a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-34510-high-risk-zip-slip-vulnerability-in-sitecore-xm-xp-and-xc\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63040\">high-risk vulnerability<\/a> that can potentially affect millions of users, underlining its significance in the cybersecurity realm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-29978<br \/>\nSeverity: High (7.8 CVSS Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: Can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4981-critical-file-extraction-vulnerability-in-mattermost-leading-to-potential-remote-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63065\">lead to system compromise and potential<\/a> data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1423056803\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-29976-improper-privilege-management-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-sharepoint\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64900\">Microsoft Office<\/a> PowerPoint | All versions till patch released<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This flaw is a &#8216;use after free&#8217; vulnerability. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-53145-type-confusion-vulnerability-in-windows-message-queuing-allowing-remote-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78187\">type of vulnerability<\/a> surfaces when a program continues to use a pointer after it has been freed. In the context of CVE-2025-29978, an attacker could craft a malicious PowerPoint file that, when opened, triggers the vulnerability, allowing the attacker to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49132-critical-arbitrary-code-execution-vulnerability-in-pterodactyl-game-server-management-panel\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63274\">execute code<\/a> on the victim&#8217;s machine. This code could be used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5867-critical-vulnerability-in-rt-thread-5-1-0-leading-to-system-compromise-or-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63922\">compromise the system or extract sensitive data<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-51579250\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>While it&#8217;s not feasible to provide exact exploit code, the following pseudocode provides a conceptual overview of what an attack might look like:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">def exploit(target_file):\n# Create a malicious object\nmalicious_object = create_malicious_object()\n# Open the target PowerPoint file\nppt_file = open(target_file, &#039;r+b&#039;)\n# Embed the malicious object into the PowerPoint file\nembed_object(ppt_file, malicious_object)\n# Save the modified file\nppt_file.save(target_file)\n# The malicious PowerPoint file is now set to exploit the vulnerability when opened<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This pseudocode is a simplified representation of an exploit. The actual exploit would be more complex and would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-10226-severe-vulnerability-in-axxonsoft-axxon-one-2-0-8-due-to-dependency-on-vulnerable-postgresql-component\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"89765\">depend on the specific details of the vulnerability<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation and Prevention<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the time of writing this post, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-29977-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-excel\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64981\">Microsoft has released a patch to address this vulnerability<\/a>. Users are urged to apply this patch as soon as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-54742-data-deserialization-vulnerability-in-wpevently-leading-to-possible-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"86485\">possible to ensure their systems<\/a> are secure. In cases where immediate patching is not feasible, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can offer temporary mitigation. However, these are not foolproof solutions and patching should be the ultimate goal.<br \/>\nRemember, staying updated on the latest patches and practicing good <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/introducing-the-ameeba-cybersecurity-group-chat\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"88422\">cybersecurity<\/a> hygiene are your best defences against potential threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview In this blog post, we will be diving deep into a recently identified vulnerability tagged as CVE-2025-29978. This critical vulnerability resides in Microsoft Office&#8217;s PowerPoint software and can potentially allow an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally on the victim&#8217;s machine. The widespread usage of Microsoft Office makes this a high-risk vulnerability that can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[82],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-56615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","vendor-microsoft"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56615"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82614,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56615\/revisions\/82614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56615"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=56615"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=56615"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=56615"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=56615"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=56615"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=56615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}