# CVE-2018-8412: Privilege escalation in Microsoft Office

> Attackers can gain elevated privileges by exploiting improper update validation in Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-345c-xx24-53p2

## What is CVE-2018-8412?

CVE-2018-8412 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Office, published on 15 Aug 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) application for Mac improperly validates updates before executing them, aka "Microsoft (MAU) Office Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Microsoft Office.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-8412?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Microsoft Office for Mac.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-8412?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-8412 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-8412 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-8412 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office

- [CVE-2018-8176](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8176/): Code injection in Microsoft Office (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-7257](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7257/): Information disclosure in n/a (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-8412 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-8412 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Office, published on 15 Aug 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-8412 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Microsoft Office. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8412/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8412/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-8412
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-8412
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-8412

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8412/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.