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CVE-2018-8281

34
FAUCET Score

CVE-2018-8281 is a remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Office, including Excel Viewer, PowerPoint Viewer, and Word Viewer, stemming from improper handling of objects in memory. This high-severity vulnerability (CVSS 7.8) requires user interaction (e.g., opening a malicious file) but, if exploited, grants an attacker full control over the affected system, leading to high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. While there is no public exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB) and it's not in CISA's KEV catalog, it garnered some community discussion and media coverage during its disclosure in July 2018.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
2016CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2016:*:*:*:*:mac_os:*:*
2016CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2016:*:*:*:click-to-run:*:*:*
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_compatibility_pack:-:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_powerpoint_viewer:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_word_viewer:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

7.8HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
19.55%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
97.1%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-27
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.1955 is in the 97th percentile among its peer group of 11,617 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.0 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (8)

microsoftpatch availablevia nvd_reference
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Office 2016 Click-to-Run (C2R) for 32-bit editions
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Office 2016 Click-to-Run (C2R) for 64-bit editions
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack Service Pack 3
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Excel Viewer
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Office Word Viewer
View patch

Vendor Advisories (1)

microsoft2018-Jul/CVE-2018-8281Important

Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Jul 10, 2018

References

portal.msrc.microsoft.com / en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2018-8281
PatchVendor Advisory
securityfocus.com / bid/104609
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
securitytracker.com / id/1041252
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry