Evidence used
- CISA confirms exploitation in the wild.
- EPSS is 43.00% for the current model date.
BlackTreeCVE IntelligenceFull vulnerability report · 2021
CVE-2021-42292High confidence
Microsoft Excel Security Feature Bypass
Microsoft · Office
7.8HighCVSS 3.1
Patch now
Patch availableCISA confirms exploitation in the wild and lists 2021-12-01 as the remediation due date.
R
Open reassessment dashboard →Operational reassessment
Published severity in operational context
Published severityHigh→Operational priority:Critical, raised one band.upgradedsince 17 Nov 2021
Compensating controls
- Validate the affected product branch and deploy the verified fixed release.
- Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
- Increase monitoring for the attack path and post-exploitation behaviour described in the report.
Verification
- Confirm that the asset runs Microsoft Office and falls inside the recorded affected range.
- Verify the installed build against the product-specific fixed version after deployment.
- Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
- Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
CISA confirms exploitation in the wild and lists 2021-12-01 as the remediation due date.
Patch available01
What, why and how
A security feature bypass vulnerability in Microsoft Excel would allow a local user to perform arbitrary code execution.
What
A security feature bypass vulnerability in Microsoft Excel would allow a local user to perform arbitrary code execution.
Why
The user interface provides a warning to a user regarding dangerous or sensitive operations, but the warning is not noticeable enough to warrant attention.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation without authentication after a user interaction. If successful, the issue may execute code or commands in the affected security context.
What
A security feature bypass vulnerability in Microsoft Excel would allow a local user to perform arbitrary code execution.
Why
The user interface provides a warning to a user regarding dangerous or sensitive operations, but the warning is not noticeable enough to warrant attention.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation without authentication after a user interaction. If successful, the issue may execute code or commands in the affected security context.
02
Exploit reality and attack path
CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.
Observed exploitation Confirmed in the wild
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.CISA added this CVE to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on 2021-11-17.
Public PoC / exploit material None recorded
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.
- Likely attack path
- local access → Insufficient UI Warning of Dangerous Operations → execute code or commands in the affected security context
- Attack surface
- Local
- Privileges required
- None: unauthenticated exploitation is possible
- User interaction
- Required interaction required
- Attack complexity
- Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
- Security boundary
- Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
- Weakness
?
CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness. - CWE-357 ↗
CWE-357: Insufficient UI Warning of Dangerous Operations. The user interface provides a warning to a user regarding dangerous or sensitive operations, but the warning is not noticeable enough to warrant attention.
- CVSS vector
?
CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity. CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:CCommon Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.
AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRNonePrivileges required: The attacker does not need an account or existing privileges.UIRequiredUser interaction: Another user must perform an action for exploitation to succeed.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.- Post-exploitation / living off the land
- After compromise, an attacker may use built-in shells, scripting engines, scheduled tasks and native network utilities for discovery, persistence or movement. This is a plausible LoTL path, not evidence that it has occurred for every attack.
03
Patch and workaround
Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.
- Status
?
Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change. - Patch available
- Affected
- Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac: 16.0.0 < 16.55.21111400
- Microsoft Excel 2013 Service Pack 1: 15.0.0.0 < 15.0.5397.1001
- Microsoft Excel 2016: 16.0.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001
- Microsoft Office LTSC 2021: 16.0.1 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
- Microsoft Office LTSC for Mac 2021: 16.0.1 < 16.55.21111400
- Microsoft Office 2016: 16.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001
- Microsoft Office 2019: 19.0.0 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
- Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise: 16.0.1 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases
- Microsoft Office 2013 Service Pack 1: 15.0.0 < 15.0.5397.1001
- Action
- Review the linked authoritative reference and apply the recorded fixed release appropriate to the affected product branch.
- Workaround
- No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04
Evidence and provenance
Published 10 Nov 2021 · Last source change 19 Aug 2026, 16:27 UTC · CWE-357 · Insufficient UI Warning of Dangerous Operations
CVE recordCVE.org · 5.2
CVSS sourceCNA
EPSS source FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
?
The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2021-29267
Product sourceCISA KEV
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCISA KEV
NVD statusNVD enriched
Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.
Material change intelligence
View recent updates ↗What changed after publication
- Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.CNA ↗
- Before
- 16.0.1 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases; 15.0.0.0 < 15.0.5397.1001; 16.0.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001; 15.0.0 < 15.0.5397.1001; 16.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001; 19.0.0 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases; 16.0.0 < 16.55.21111400 · Fixed: An authoritative update reference is available, but the fixed version is not recorded in the structured CVE fields. Check the linked vendor advisory for the applicable release.
- After
- Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise: 16.0.1 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases; Microsoft Excel 2013 Service Pack 1: 15.0.0.0 < 15.0.5397.1001; Microsoft Excel 2016: 16.0.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001; Microsoft Office 2013 Service Pack 1: 15.0.0 < 15.0.5397.1001; Microsoft Office 2016: 16.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001; Microsoft Office 2019: 19.0.0 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases; Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac: 16.0.0 < 16.55.21111400; Microsoft Office LTSC 2021: 16.0.1 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases; Microsoft Office LTSC for Mac 2021: 16.0.1 < 16.55.21111400 · Fixed: An authoritative update reference is available, but the fixed version is not recorded in the structured CVE fields. Check the linked vendor advisory for the applicable release.
- Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added patch: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292; added remediation: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292; removed remediation: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292.secure@microsoft.com ↗
- Before
- patch: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292 · remediation: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292
- After
- patch: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292 · patch: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292 · remediation: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292
- Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added remediation: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292; removed patch: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292; removed remediation: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292.portal.msrc.microsoft.com ↗
- Before
- patch: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292 · patch: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292 · remediation: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292
- After
- patch: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292 · remediation: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292
- Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added patch: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292; added remediation: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292; removed remediation: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292.msrc.microsoft.com ↗
- Before
- patch: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292 · remediation: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292
- After
- patch: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292 · patch: portal.msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292 · remediation: msrc.microsoft.com/CVE-2021-42292
- Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.CNA ↗
- Before
- 19.0.0 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases; 16.0.0 < 16.55.21111400; 16.0.1 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases; 16.0.1 < 16.55.21111400; 16.0.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001; 16.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001; 15.0.0.0 < 15.0.5397.1001 · Fixed: An authoritative update reference is available, but the fixed version is not recorded in the structured CVE fields. Check the linked vendor advisory for the applicable release.
- After
- 16.0.1 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases; 15.0.0.0 < 15.0.5397.1001; 16.0.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001; 15.0.0 < 15.0.5397.1001; 16.0.0 < 16.0.5239.1001; 19.0.0 < https://aka.ms/OfficeSecurityReleases; 16.0.0 < 16.55.21111400 · Fixed: An authoritative update reference is available, but the fixed version is not recorded in the structured CVE fields. Check the linked vendor advisory for the applicable release.
CVE published
Added to CISA KEV
Fixed release or patch reference recorded
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
- CVE
- Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
- CVSS
- Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
- EPSS
- Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
- CWE
- Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
- CNA
- CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
- CISA ADP
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
- NVD
- National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
- CERT / CSIRT
- A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
- PoC
- Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
- CSAF
- Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
- LoTL
- Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.