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CVE-2021-40481

27
FAUCET Score

CVE-2021-40481 is a remote code execution vulnerability affecting Microsoft Office Visio, as well as Microsoft 365 Apps and Office Long Term Servicing Channel. With a CVSS score of 7.8 (High), it allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system through user interaction, typically by tricking a user into opening a specially crafted Visio file. While not currently listed on CISA's KEV catalog or having public exploit code in Metasploit or ExploitDB, it has garnered some community discussion and media coverage, indicating awareness of the flaw. The vulnerability was addressed in Microsoft's October 2021 Patch Tuesday updates.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:365_apps:-:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:*
2019CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office:2019:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
2021CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_long_term_servicing_channel:2021:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.1

7.1HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
NONE
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
5.2
CvssVersion
3.1

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
5.56%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
92.0%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-28
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0556 is in the 93rd percentile among its peer group of 11,621 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 (7)

microsoftpatch availablevia nvd_reference
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Office 2019 for 32-bit editionsFixed in: https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Office 2019 for 64-bit editionsFixed in: https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise for 32-bit SystemsFixed in: https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise for 64-bit SystemsFixed in: https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Office LTSC 2021 for 32-bit editionsFixed in: https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Microsoft Office LTSC 2021 for 64-bit editionsFixed in: https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases

Vendor Advisories (1)

microsoft2021-Oct/CVE-2021-40481Important

Microsoft Office Visio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Oct 12, 2021

References

portal.msrc.microsoft.com / en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2021-40481
PatchVendor Advisory
zerodayinitiative.com / advisories/ZDI-21-1160
Third Party Advisory