Microsoft Office: Big bug found, hackers can access camera and microphone

Many Microsoft apps were reported with bugs. Microsoft found these bugs in the Mac OS version. These bugs are confirmed in Microsoft Office, Outlook, Teams, Onenote, and other apps. Hackers using these bugs can get remote access to the microphone and camera of the user's system. Microsoft fixed the bug for two of these apps and has released an update.

Cyber security group Cisco Talos has now revealed eight flaws found in Microsoft's apps for macOS in a blog post. These flaws would have permitted hackers to inject some specially designed malware libraries into six Microsoft apps—Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and OneNote—and bypass Apple's permission model on macOS.

According to Apple's TCC framework on macOS, malware software that wants to grant access to a user's microphone or camera has to get permission from them. Studies with the help of this malware have shown how hackers could get permission themselves.

Hackers used to target macOS users with these Microsoft apps on their computers. In view of these vulnerabilities, hackers could record audio by injecting libraries through apps. Microsoft Excel is the only app in this list that doesn't have access to the microphone; also, using an app like Microsoft Teams will gain access to the camera.