CVE-2024-38189 in Office
Summary
by MITRE • 08/13/2024
Microsoft Project Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/21/2025
This vulnerability resides within Microsoft Project software which is part of the Microsoft Office suite and serves as project management application for planning and tracking projects. The flaw manifests as a remote code execution vulnerability that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems without requiring authentication. This represents a critical security weakness that can be exploited through various attack vectors including malicious email attachments, compromised websites, or infected downloads. The vulnerability stems from improper input validation within the application's handling of specially crafted project files or data structures. Attackers can leverage this weakness by crafting malicious project files that, when opened by an unsuspecting user, trigger code execution in the context of the current user's privileges.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with common software security flaws identified under CWE-121 which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions and CWE-787 which covers out-of-bounds write vulnerabilities. These classifications indicate that the flaw involves memory corruption issues where attacker-controlled data can overwrite adjacent memory locations, potentially allowing for arbitrary code execution. The attack surface is broad since Microsoft Project is widely deployed across enterprise environments and users frequently open project files from various sources including email attachments, shared drives, and web downloads. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous as it can be exploited through social engineering attacks where users are tricked into opening malicious project files.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple code execution to encompass complete system compromise and data exfiltration capabilities. When successfully exploited, attackers can establish persistent access to compromised systems, escalate privileges, and move laterally within network environments. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of Microsoft Project including various releases from 2016 through 2021, making it a widespread concern for organizations that have not implemented timely security updates. Organizations using Microsoft Project in their project management workflows face significant risk of unauthorized access to sensitive project data, intellectual property, and business-critical information that could be compromised through this vulnerability.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate patch deployment through Microsoft's official security update channels, which address the underlying memory corruption issues in the application's file parsing routines. Network segmentation and email filtering solutions can help reduce attack surface by preventing malicious project files from reaching end users. Organizations should implement application whitelisting policies that restrict execution of untrusted project files and monitor for unusual file access patterns. Security teams should also conduct regular vulnerability assessments specifically targeting Microsoft Project installations and ensure proper user training to recognize potential social engineering attempts. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1203 - Exploitation for Client Execution, highlighting the need for endpoint protection measures and privileged access controls to limit potential damage from successful exploitation attempts.