{"id":80960,"date":"2025-10-03T03:43:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T03:43:13","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-21T04:13:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:13:23","slug":"cve-2025-53738-high-severity-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-53738-high-severity-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-word\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-53738: High Severity Use After Free Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The cybersecurity landscape is continually evolving, with new vulnerabilities being discovered and exploited by malicious actors. One such vulnerability is CVE-2025-53738, a use after free vulnerability present in Microsoft Office Word that may allow an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-9114-critical-arbitrary-user-password-change-vulnerability-in-doccure-wordpress-theme\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"88283\">vulnerability poses a substantial threat to users<\/a> due to Microsoft Office&#8217;s widespread use in both business and personal settings. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-9443-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-tenda-ch22-1-0-0-1-potentially-leads-to-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"89031\">potential impact includes system<\/a> compromise and data leakage, which could have severe repercussions if sensitive personal or organizational data is involved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-53738<br \/>\nSeverity: High (7.8 CVSS Severity Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-9364-critical-open-database-issue-resulting-in-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"89068\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-945391780\" 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-2025-54897-deserialization-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-sharepoint\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"89208\">Microsoft Office<\/a> Word | All versions prior to the patch<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-57085-critical-stack-overflow-vulnerability-in-tenda-w30e-resulting-in-denial-of-service\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"89279\">vulnerability is a result<\/a> of a use after free condition present in Microsoft Office Word. In simple terms, this means that the application uses memory after it has been freed or deleted. This leads to a state where an attacker could manipulate the application into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-47098-arbitrary-code-execution-vulnerability-in-incopy\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"88153\">executing arbitrary code<\/a>, thereby exploiting the vulnerability.<br \/>\nWhen a Word document is opened, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5038-memory-corruption-vulnerability-in-certain-autodesk-products\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"89602\">certain objects are created in memory<\/a>. If a specially crafted document is used by an attacker, these objects can be manipulated in such a way that they are freed but still referenced later on. This state is exploitable by an attacker to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-37777-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-o2oa-v9-0-3\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"88581\">execute arbitrary code<\/a> in the context of the current user.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3774455563\" 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>Here is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This is not actual code but serves to illustrate the principles of the exploit.<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">\/\/ Define malicious payload\nchar malicious_payload[] = &quot;...&quot;;\n\/\/ Open a Word document\nDocument doc = Application.Documents.Open(&quot;malicious.docx&quot;);\n\/\/ The document contains a specially crafted object that gets freed\n\/\/ but is later referenced due to the use after free vulnerability\nObject obj = doc.Objects[0];\n\/\/ The attacker&#039;s code replaces the freed memory\nmemcpy(obj, malicious_payload, sizeof(malicious_payload));\n\/\/ The application now executes the attacker&#039;s code when referencing the object\ndoc.Execute();<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>It&#8217;s crucial to note that this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4688-critical-sql-injection-vulnerability-in-bgs-interactive-sinav-link-exam-result-module\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"89955\">vulnerability requires user interaction<\/a>, such as opening a malicious Word document. As such, one of the primary defenses against this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-9693-arbitrary-file-deletion-vulnerability-in-user-meta-user-profile-builder-plugin-for-wordpress\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"90599\">vulnerability is user<\/a> awareness and caution when opening documents, particularly from unknown sources.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users are advised to apply the vendor patch as soon as it is available. In the meantime, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. Furthermore, users should be wary of opening Word documents from unknown or untrusted sources, as these could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-10533-critical-vulnerability-in-firefox-and-thunderbird-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"89403\">potentially contain the malicious payload designed to exploit this vulnerability<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The cybersecurity landscape is continually evolving, with new vulnerabilities being discovered and exploited by malicious actors. One such vulnerability is CVE-2025-53738, a use after free vulnerability present in Microsoft Office Word that may allow an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally. This vulnerability poses a substantial threat to users due to Microsoft Office&#8217;s widespread [&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-80960","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\/80960","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=80960"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83543,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80960\/revisions\/83543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80960"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=80960"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=80960"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=80960"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=80960"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=80960"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=80960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}