CVE-2020-16955 Microsoft Office Click-to-Run Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
An attacker can elevate privileges by convincing a user to open a specially crafted file in Microsoft Office Click-to-Run.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2020-16955?
CVE-2020-16955 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft 365 Apps, published on 16 Oct 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way that Microsoft Office Click-to-Run (C2R) AppVLP handles certain files. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could elevate privileges.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a user to open a specially crafted file.</p> <p>The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Microsoft Office Click-to-Run (C2R) components handle these files.</p>
Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-16955?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Microsoft 365 Apps, Microsoft Office.
How do I fix CVE-2020-16955?
No fix has been published for CVE-2020-16955 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2020-16955 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-16955 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft 365 Apps
- CVE-2024-21413 Microsoft Outlook Improper Input Validation
- CVE-2023-23397 Microsoft Office Outlook Privilege Escalation
- CVE-2024-38189 Microsoft Project Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2023-35311 Microsoft Outlook Security Feature Bypass
- CVE-2026-21514 Microsoft Office Word Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision
Sources
Also known as GHSA-hfw2-mqmp-j26q.