Microsoft updates Office for Mac with security fixes
updated 12:52 am EDT, Wed May 9, 2012
Six vulnerabilities in both PC and Mac versions
Microsoft has starting pushing security updates for the 2008 and 2011 versions of Microsoft Office for Mac, including an "important" security fix for six vulnerabilities that could allow remote code execution, even on affected Macs. On the Windows side, the problems stretch back all the way to Microsoft Excel 2003, but for Macs only the two most recent versions of Office are affected. The fix is available through the Microsoft Updater.
The new versions (Office 2008 v12.3.3 and Office 2011 v14.2.2) resolve one publicly disclosed and five privately-reported vulnerabilities in the software, Microsoft confirmed in its release notes for the patch. "An attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user." Users who may be running MS Office with reduced privileges may be less affected than admin users, but all users are recommended to update their software as soon as possible.
The MS Office 2008 update is 218MB in size, while the Office 2011 update is 110MB. The downloads are available outside of the Office Updated on Microsoft's Office for Mac support page.
