Use-after-free in Microsoft Office - CVE-2026-96997
Published: October 14, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU155547
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 8.5 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-96997
CWE-ID: CWE-416
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges to SYSTEM.
The vulnerability exists due to use-after-free in Microsoft Office OneNote when accessing freed memory. A local user can exploit this flaw locally to escalate privileges to SYSTEM.
Affected software
Microsoft Office
How to mitigate CVE-2026-96997
Install security update from vendor's website.
Microsoft Office - addressed in versions 16.0.14334.20974, 16.0.17932.21056