Microsoft Office
CVE-2020-0697 — Microsoft Office Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Executive Summary
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Microsoft Office OLicenseHeartbeat task, where an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run this task as SYSTEM. To exploit the vulnerability, an authenticated attacker would need to place a specially crafted file in a specific location, thereby allowing arbitrary file corruption. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the process validates the log file.
Overview
7.8
CVSS HIGH
Important
MS Severity
Not Exploited
MS Exploit Status
N/A
MS Exploit Likelihood
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
ATTACK VECTOR
Local
ATTACK COMPLEXITY
Low
PRIVILEGES REQUIRED
Low
USER INTERACTION
None
SCOPE
Unchanged
EPSS Score
0.00903
probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
0.56659 percentile - updated 2026-08-14
View on FIRST.org
Affected Products
2 affected products
| Product | KB Article | Severity | Impact | Restart Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office 365 ProPlus for 32-bit Systems | Click to Run (Security Update) |
Important | Tampering | No |
| Office 365 ProPlus for 64-bit Systems | Click to Run (Security Update) |
Important | Tampering | No |
Patches
1 patch
| Article | Type | Restart |
|---|---|---|
Click to Run |
Security Update | No |
Exploits & PoC
No public exploit or PoC has been linked for this CVE yet. When available, references are sourced from public repositories and may be unverified or non-functional — review carefully before use.
Detection Rules
No public Sigma or Nuclei detection rule has been mapped to this CVE yet. Coverage is concentrated on exploited / high-profile vulnerabilities; check SigmaHQ for updates.
Acknowledgments
Zhiniang Peng (@edwardzpeng) of Qihoo 360 Core security & Xuefeng Li
References
On This Page