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Microsoft has released security patches for Word and Excel:

This is a set of cumulative patches that, when applied, applies all previously released fixes for these products.

In addition, these patches eliminate four newly discovered vulnerabilities all of which could enable an attacker to run Macro code on a user's machine. The attacker's macro code could take any actions on the system that the user was able to.

- An Excel macro execution vulnerability that relates to how inline macros that are associated with objects are handled. This vulnerability could enable macros to execute and bypass the Macro Security Model when the user clicked on an object in a workbook.

- An Excel macro execution vulnerability that relates to how macros are handled in workbooks when those workbooks are opened via a hyperlink on a drawing shape. It is possible for macros in a workbook so invoked to run automatically.

- An HTML script execution vulnerability that can occur when an Excel workbook with an XSL Stylesheet that contains HTML scripting is opened. The script within the XSL stylesheet could be run in the local computer zone.

- A new variant of the Word Mail Merge vulnerability first addressed in MS00-071. This new variant could enable an attacker's macro code to run automatically if the user had Microsoft Access present on the system and chose to open a mail merge document that had been saved in HTML format.

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