This vulnerability (CVE-2026-45457) involves an out-of-bounds read in Microsoft Office Word within Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise. The flaw allows an attacker without privileges to execute code locally by exploiting this memory safety issue. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 7.8, indicating high severity with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The vulnerability affects version 16.0.1. Microsoft has released an official fix for this issue and manages remediation for this cloud-hosted service. No active exploitation has been reported.

Successful exploitation could lead to local code execution by an unauthorized attacker, potentially compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system. The vulnerability is rated high severity with CVSS 3.1 score 7.8. No known exploits are currently active in the wild.

An official fix is available from Microsoft. Users should apply the vendor-provided update as detailed in the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-45457. Since this is a cloud-hosted service, Microsoft manages remediation server-side, but customers should verify that updates have been applied.