# CVE-2018-8546: Denial of service in Microsoft Lync

> An attacker can cause a denial of service in Skype for Business, affecting Microsoft Office and Lync users.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 14 Nov 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-jwxg-487g-c8pg

## What is CVE-2018-8546?

CVE-2018-8546 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Microsoft Office, published on 14 Nov 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A denial of service vulnerability exists in Skype for Business, aka "Microsoft Skype for Business Denial of Service Vulnerability." This affects Office 365 ProPlus, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Lync, Skype.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-8546?

It affects 6 products.


Products: Microsoft Lync, Microsoft Lync Basic, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office 365 Proplus, Microsoft Skype for Business, Microsoft Skype for Business Basic.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-8546?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-8546 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-8546 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-8546 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office

- [CVE-2020-1025](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1025/): Microsoft Office Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2013-1302](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1302/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2012-1849](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-1849/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2018-8311](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8311/): Code injection in Microsoft Lync (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-11786](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11786/): Auth bypass in Skype for Business (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-8546 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-8546 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Microsoft Office, published on 14 Nov 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-8546 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-2018-8546/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8546/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-8546
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-8546
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-8546

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8546/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.