Microsoft has disclosed a serious vulnerability in its collaboration platform, Microsoft Teams, that could open the door to Remote Code Execution (RCE) attacks. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2025-53783, carries a CVSS score of 7.5 and is categorized as “Important.”
The issue arises from a heap-based buffer overflow, a well-known software weakness classified under CWE-122. In this type of vulnerability, an application writes more data to a buffer located in the heap than it was allocated to hold. This can result in adjacent memory corruption, giving attackers a pathway to inject and execute arbitrary code.
In the context of Microsoft Teams, this means a successful exploit could allow malicious actors to read private communications, alter message content, or delete messages altogether.
Although the flaw does not require administrative privileges, it does depend on user interaction. For instance, the victim might need to click on a specially crafted link or open a malicious file within the Teams environment. This requirement slightly mitigates the threat, but does not eliminate it, particularly in corporate settings where social engineering remains an effective tactic.
Exploitability and Risk Assessment for CVE-2025-53783 Vulnerability
Microsoft has assessed CVE-2025-53783 as “Exploitation Less Likely” under its exploitability index. The complexity of crafting a working exploit and the specific conditions needed for it to succeed reduce the likelihood of immediate widespread attacks.
That said, the vulnerability still uses a network-based attack vector, meaning attackers can launch attacks remotely without needing physical access to devices.
No known in-the-wild exploits or public exploit code have surfaced as of the disclosure date.
Patch Available, Immediate Action Recommended
Microsoft has released a patch addressing CVE-2025-53783, and all organizations using Microsoft Teams are urged to apply it without delay. The patch is part of Microsoft’s August 2025 Patch Tuesday release, which covers a total of 110 vulnerabilities, including several with higher severity ratings.
Administrators should also reinforce best practices such as user education on phishing, regular software updates, and network activity monitoring. Given the widespread use of Teams in enterprise environments, the consequences of a successful attack could include exposure of sensitive business data and disruption of internal communications.
Additionally, IT teams should evaluate their incident response plans and ensure that they have better data backup and recovery procedures in place, especially if data integrity is compromised in the wake of an exploit.
Other Vulnerabilities in the August 2025 Update
While CVE-2025-53783 is notable for its potential to enable Remote Code Execution in a widely used platform, it is not the only issue addressed this month. Microsoft’s August update includes fixes for several high-risk vulnerabilities, including:
- CVE-2025-53767: A 10.0-severity Azure OpenAI Elevation of Privilege vulnerability, now mitigated.
- CVE-2025-53792: A 9.1-severity Azure Portal Elevation of Privilege issue.
- CVE-2025-50171, CVE-2025-50165, and CVE-2025-53766: All rated 9.0 or higher; these flaws span components such as Remote Desktop and Windows Graphics.
The update also addressed 13 vulnerabilities rated 8.8, affecting components like SQL Server, SharePoint, and Windows Media. One NTLM flaw, rated 8.8, was specifically highlighted as high-risk.
Among the ten vulnerabilities considered most likely to be exploited:
- CVE-2025-53786: An 8.0-severity vulnerability affecting Exchange Server Hybrid Deployments. Shadowserver reported that 28,000 Exchange instances remain unpatched.
- Other notable flaws include CVE-2025-53778 (Windows NTLM), CVE-2025-50177 (MSMQ), and CVE-2025-53132 (Win32k).
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