Known exploited · Microsoft
CVE-2024-38226: Microsoft Publisher Protection Mechanism Failure Vulnerability
What it is
Microsoft Publisher contains a protection mechanism failure vulnerability that allows attacker to bypass Office macro policies used to block untrusted or malicious files.
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Publisher
- Added to KEV
- September 10, 2024
- CISA due date
- October 1, 2024
- Ransomware use
- Unknown
What CISA requires
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Forensic triage
No
What to do now
- Find every instance of Publisher you run, including the forgotten ones, and check its version against the vendor advisory.
- Apply the vendor's fix or mitigation, before October 1, 2024 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.