CVE-2023-36413: 
vulnerability analysis and mitigation

Microsoft Office Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability (CVE-2023-36413) was disclosed on November 14, 2023. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of Microsoft Office including Office 2016, Office 2019, Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, and Office LTSC 2021 in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions (MSRC, FortiGuard).

The vulnerability stems from improper handling of filename characters in Microsoft Office. It has been assigned a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (Medium), with the following vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N. This indicates that the vulnerability requires user interaction, can be exploited over the network, and has high impact on integrity but no impact on confidentiality or availability (NVD).

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to bypass the Protected View security feature in Microsoft Office and enable macros, potentially leading to system compromise. The vulnerability primarily affects the integrity of the system while maintaining normal availability and confidentiality (FortiGuard).

Microsoft has released security updates to address this vulnerability. Users are advised to apply the most recent upgrade or patch from Microsoft. The fix requires installing KB5002521 for Office 2016, and it must be installed together with KB5002498 to prevent potential 'Ordinal Not Found' errors (Microsoft Support).