{"id":3092145,"date":"2026-02-11T12:46:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T20:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=3092145"},"modified":"2026-02-11T13:31:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:31:32","slug":"microsoft-says-hackers-are-exploiting-critical-zero-day-bugs-to-target-windows-and-office-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/02\/11\/microsoft-says-hackers-are-exploiting-critical-zero-day-bugs-to-target-windows-and-office-users\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft says hackers are exploiting critical zero-day bugs to target Windows and Office users"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Microsoft has rolled out fixes for security vulnerabilities in Windows and Office, which the company says are being actively abused by hackers to break into people&#8217;s computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The exploits are <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/04\/25\/techcrunch-reference-guide-to-security-terminology\/#zero-click-one-click-attacks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one-click attacks<\/a>, meaning that a hacker can plant malware or gain access to a victim&#8217;s computer with minimal user interaction. At least two flaws can be exploited by tricking someone into clicking a malicious link on their Windows computer. Another can result in a compromise on opening a malicious Office file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The vulnerabilities are known as <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/04\/25\/techcrunch-reference-guide-to-security-terminology\/#zero-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">zero-days<\/a>, because the hackers were exploiting the bugs before Microsoft had time to fix them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Details of how to exploit the bugs have been published, Microsoft said, potentially increasing the chance of hacks. Microsoft did not say where they had been published, and a Microsoft spokesperson did not immediately comment when reached by TechCrunch.&nbsp;In its bug reports, Microsoft acknowledged the input of security researchers in Google&#8217;s Threat Intelligence Group in their discovery of the vulnerabilities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Microsoft said one of the bugs, officially tracked as <a href=\"https:\/\/msrc.microsoft.com\/update-guide\/en-US\/advisory\/CVE-2026-21510\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">CVE-2026-21510<\/a>, was found in the Windows shell, which powers the operating system&#8217;s user interface. The bug affects all supported versions of Windows, the company said. When a victim clicks on a malicious link from their computer, the bug allows hackers to bypass Microsoft&#8217;s SmartScreen feature that would typically screen malicious links and files for malware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerodayinitiative.com\/blog\/2026\/2\/10\/the-february-2026-security-update-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">security expert Dustin Childs<\/a>, this bug can be abused to <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/04\/25\/techcrunch-reference-guide-to-security-terminology\/#remote-code-execution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">remotely plant malware<\/a> on the victim&#8217;s computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is user interaction here, as the client needs to click a link or a shortcut file,\u201d Childs wrote in his blog post. &#8220;Still, a one-click bug to gain code execution is a rarity.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Google spokesperson confirmed that the Windows shell bug was under &#8220;widespread, active exploitation,&#8221; and said successful hacks allowed the silent execution of malware with high privileges, &#8220;posing a high risk of subsequent system compromise, deployment of ransomware, or intelligence collection.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another Windows bug, tracked as <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/msrc.microsoft.com\/update-guide\/vulnerability\/CVE-2026-21513\">CVE-2026-21513<\/a>, was found in Microsoft&#8217;s proprietary browser engine, MSHTML, which powers its legacy and long-discontinued Internet Explorer browser. It&#8217;s still found in newer versions of Windows to ensure backward compatibility with older apps.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Microsoft said this bug allows hackers to bypass security features in Windows to plant malware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to independent security reporter Brian Krebs, Microsoft also patched <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/krebsonsecurity.com\/2026\/02\/patch-tuesday-february-2026-edition\/\">three other zero-day bugs<\/a> in its software that were being actively exploited by hackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Critical security flaws targeting Windows and Office users allow hackers to take complete control of a victim&#8217;s computer by clicking a malicious link or opening a file. Patch now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574210,"featured_media":3029460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tc-featured-article":false,"tc-header-option":"","tc-breaking-news":false,"tc-article-brief":false,"carmot_uuid":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-02-11T20:46:46Z","apple_news_api_id":"cafbac19-bb7a-4a43-a501-08fa50cb7530","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-02-11T21:21:27Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AyvusGbt6SkOlAQj6UMt1MA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"tc_subtitle":"","tc_featured_image_disabled":false,"tc_exclude_from_rss_feed":false,"tc_exclude_from_content_rivers":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21587494],"tags":[965824,55368,637,577370475,800,577337052],"tc_region":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_storyline_tax":[],"coauthors":[576607994],"class_list":["post-3092145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-cybersecurity","tag-macos","tag-microsoft","tag-microsoft-office-2","tag-windows","tag-zero-day-2"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.1 (Yoast SEO v25.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Microsoft says hackers are exploiting critical zero-day bugs to target Windows and Office users | TechCrunch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Critical security flaws targeting Windows and Office users allow hackers to take complete control of a victim&#039;s computer by clicking a malicious link or opening a file. 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