Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This Microsoft Publisher flaw can bypass a security protection and may lead to serious compromise after user interaction. The listed products include Office 2019, Office LTSC 2021, and Publisher 2016. CISA’s KEV listing confirms exploitation has occurred, so organizations should treat exposed installations as an urgent remediation priority.
Executive priority
Urgent. CISA-confirmed exploitation and potentially high business impact justify accelerated patching, beginning with user endpoints that process externally supplied Office content. Track unsupported systems and remediation exceptions to closure.
Technical view
CVE-2024-38226 is a CWE-693 security-control failure rated CVSS 7.3. Its vector indicates local access, low complexity, low privileges, and required user interaction, with potentially high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. The supplied evidence does not describe the bypass mechanism or attack artifact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on endpoints running the listed Office or Publisher versions, especially where users interact with untrusted content. The bundle does not establish whether other releases are affected or provide patched build numbers, so inventory findings must be compared with Microsoft’s advisory.
Exploitation context
CISA includes CVE-2024-38226 in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, supporting active-exploitation status. The available bundle does not identify threat actors, campaign scale, exploitation frequency, or technical methods. User interaction is required according to the CVSS vector.
Researcher notes
The source bundle establishes affected product entries, CVSS characteristics, CWE-693 classification, a Microsoft patch reference, and KEV status. It does not supply root-cause details, patched KB numbers, indicators of compromise, or observed exploitation techniques. Avoid inferring a specific bypass mechanism without additional vendor evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Apply the applicable Microsoft security update identified in the vendor advisory.
- Prioritize endpoints running Office 2019, Office LTSC 2021, or Publisher 2016.
- Restrict handling of untrusted Publisher or Office content until affected systems are remediated.
- Consult Microsoft guidance for supported builds, update prerequisites, and any additional mitigations.
Validation and detection
- Inventory installed Office and Publisher products, versions, and update levels.
- Compare installed builds against the remediation details in Microsoft’s advisory.
- Confirm security updates installed successfully and endpoints no longer report the vulnerable build.
- Review endpoint telemetry for suspicious activity involving Publisher or untrusted Office content.
- Re-scan remediated assets and document any unsupported or unreachable systems.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-693: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2024-38226 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- Yes
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CISA KEV status
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C1.35.9microsoftVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.3HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- Added to KEVCISA-ADP
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities metadata lists this CVE as known exploited.
- ADP timelineCISA-ADP
CVE-2024-38226 added to CISA KEV
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
- 2024-09-10T00:00:00.000Z: CVE-2024-38226 added to CISA KEV
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- Microsoft Publisher Security Feature Bypass VulnerabilityCVE reference, microsoft · vendor-advisory, patch
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2024-38226CVE reference, CISA-ADP · government-resource
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Protection Mechanism Failure
Protection Mechanism Failure represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.