{"id":85551,"date":"2025-11-03T17:54:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T17:54:21","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-11-11T11:04:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T17:04:01","slug":"cve-2025-54896-unauthorized-code-execution-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-excel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-54896-unauthorized-code-execution-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-excel\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-54896: Unauthorized Code Execution Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Excel<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-54896, is a severe security risk present in Microsoft Office Excel. It allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally on the affected system, potentially leading to system compromise or sensitive data leakage. Given the widespread use of Microsoft Office Excel in both personal and professional environments, this vulnerability poses a significant threat to countless users worldwide.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-54896<br \/>\nSeverity: High (7.8 CVSS score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49668-heap-based-buffer-overflow-in-windows-rras-resulting-in-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"92451\">System compromise and potential<\/a> data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3722567783\" 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: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\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: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\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: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft Office Excel | All versions prior to the latest patch<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This vulnerability exploits a flaw in the memory management of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-30381-a-critical-out-of-bounds-read-vulnerability-in-microsoft-office-excel\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"92331\">Microsoft Office<\/a> Excel. The issue is due to a use-after-free condition in the software, which means the software uses memory space after it&#8217;s been freed. As a result, an attacker can input malicious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2945-critical-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-pgadmin-4\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"92492\">code which can then be executed<\/a> by the software, allowing unauthorized access and potentially compromising the system or leaking sensitive data.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3115982019\" 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>Consider a scenario where the attacker sends a specially crafted Excel file to the victim. The file contains malicious code that is executed once the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-52816-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-themehunk-zita\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"92330\">file is opened in a vulnerable<\/a> version of Excel. The code could look something like this:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">=CALL(&quot;Kernel32&quot;,&quot;VirtualAlloc&quot;,&quot;JJJJJ&quot;,0,1000,4096,64)\n=CALL(&quot;Kernel32&quot;,&quot;RtlMoveMemory&quot;,&quot;JJJCJ&quot;,return_value,&quot;[malicious_code]&quot;,100)\n=CALL(&quot;Kernel32&quot;,&quot;CreateThread&quot;,&quot;JJJJJJJJ&quot;,0,0,return_value,0,0,0,0)\n=RETURN()<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This is just a conceptual example, the actual exploit may be more complex and context-specific.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users are strongly advised to apply the latest vendor patch from Microsoft. In the absence of an immediate patch, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. Security teams should also consider implementing strict controls on the opening of Excel files from untrusted sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-54896, is a severe security risk present in Microsoft Office Excel. It allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code locally on the affected system, potentially leading to system compromise or sensitive data leakage. Given the widespread use of Microsoft Office Excel in both personal and professional environments, this vulnerability poses [&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-85551","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\/85551","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=85551"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85777,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85551\/revisions\/85777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85551"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=85551"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=85551"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=85551"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=85551"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=85551"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=85551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}