Known exploited · Microsoft
CVE-2023-21715: Microsoft Office Publisher Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability
What it is
Microsoft Office Publisher contains a security feature bypass vulnerability that allows for a local, authenticated attack on a targeted system.
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Office
- Added to KEV
- February 14, 2023
- CISA due date
- March 7, 2023
- Ransomware use
- Unknown
- Weakness
- CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization
What CISA requires
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Forensic triage
No
What to do now
- Find every instance of Office you run, including the forgotten ones, and check its version against the vendor advisory.
- Apply the vendor's fix or mitigation, before March 7, 2023 if you are bound by CISA's deadline, sooner if it faces the internet.
- Assume it was tried against you already: look for signs of exploitation from the date it was added, not from the day you patched.
References
H2 Security
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Start freeSource: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog (public domain), catalog version 2026.10.01.