{"id":62242,"date":"2025-08-08T12:26:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T12:26:30","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-08-30T08:31:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T14:31:33","slug":"cve-2025-47174-heap-based-buffer-overflow-in-microsoft-office-excel-leading-to-unauthorized-code-execution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-47174-heap-based-buffer-overflow-in-microsoft-office-excel-leading-to-unauthorized-code-execution\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-47174: Heap-Based Buffer Overflow in Microsoft Office Excel Leading to Unauthorized Code Execution<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving with new threats emerging on a regular basis. One such threat that has come to light recently is the CVE-2025-47174 vulnerability. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8178-critical-heap-based-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-tenda-ac10\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69056\">vulnerability is a heap-based buffer overflow<\/a> in Microsoft Office Excel. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43233-critical-https-proxy-vulnerability-allowing-sensitive-data-access\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69530\">vulnerability is of significant concern as it allows<\/a> an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. It affects any individual or organization that utilizes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-47168-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-word-allowing-unauthorized-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"73061\">Microsoft Office<\/a> Excel, emphasizing the importance of taking prompt action to address this security risk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-47174<br \/>\nSeverity: High (CVSS 7.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8040-memory-safety-bugs-causing-potential-system-compromise-in-firefox-and-thunderbird\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"71312\">Potential system compromise<\/a> or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1401763077\" 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-2025-47170-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-word\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"75410\">Microsoft Office<\/a> Excel | All versions prior to patch<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This exploit takes advantage of a heap-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-7855-critical-stack-based-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-tenda-fh451-1-0-0-9\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69058\">buffer overflow<\/a> in Microsoft Office Excel. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-7795-critical-stack-based-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-tenda-fh451\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69060\">buffer overflow<\/a> occurs when a program or process attempts to write more data to a fixed-length block of memory, or buffer, than it can hold. In this case, the overflow is happening in the heap, a region of a computer&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-21486-severe-memory-corruption-vulnerability-during-dynamic-process-creation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"71532\">memory space that is used for dynamic<\/a> memory allocation. An attacker can manipulate this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43253-arbitrary-binary-launch-vulnerability-in-macos-sequoia-and-sonoma\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69529\">vulnerability to execute arbitrary<\/a> code on the system running the vulnerable software.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2657909065\" 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 we do not provide actual exploit code, the following conceptual example illustrates how an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-42959-unauthenticated-replay-attack-exploiting-hmac-reuse\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"71311\">attacker might use a crafted Excel spreadsheet to exploit<\/a> this vulnerability:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\"># Hypothetical Python-based exploit\nimport malicious_module\ndef create_exploit():\nbuffer = &quot;A&quot; * 5000  # Overflow the buffer\nmalicious_code = malicious_module.generate_code()  # Generate malicious code\nspreadsheet = open(&quot;exploit.xls&quot;, &quot;w&quot;)\nspreadsheet.write(buffer + malicious_code)\nspreadsheet.close()\ncreate_exploit()<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this conceptual example, the attacker creates an Excel spreadsheet with a large amount of data (&#8220;A&#8221; * 5000) to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-7468-critical-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-tenda-fh1201\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69062\">overflow the buffer<\/a>. They then append malicious code to this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-7465-critical-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-tenda-fh1201-1-2-0-14\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69065\">overflowed buffer<\/a> and save it within an Excel file (`exploit.xls`). When this file is opened in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-46198-cross-site-scripting-vulnerability-in-grav-versions-1-7-46-to-1-7-48\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69926\">vulnerable version<\/a> of Excel, the overflow occurs, executing the malicious code.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving with new threats emerging on a regular basis. One such threat that has come to light recently is the CVE-2025-47174 vulnerability. This vulnerability is a heap-based buffer overflow in Microsoft Office Excel. This vulnerability is of significant concern as it allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. [&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":[86],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-62242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","vendor-microsoft","attack_vector-buffer-overflow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62242","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=62242"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67963,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62242\/revisions\/67963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62242"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=62242"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=62242"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=62242"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=62242"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=62242"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=62242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}