Users of cryptocurrency who use Windows should be aware of a new critical Microsoft vulnerability

Researchers in cybersecurity discovered a zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Office called Follina, which may infect a machine via malicious Word documents.

According to Wallet Guard, a vendor of anti-phishing extensions, the vulnerability could allow malicious actors to take control of the victim’s computer without opening the file.

Furthermore, the exploit is simple and cannot be detected by anti-virus software.

“This exploit is a mountain of exploits stacked on top of each other. However, it is unfortunately easy to re-create and cannot be detected by anti-virus,” Wallet Guard said.

How does Follina affect computers?

The exploit manifests itself by opening a Microsoft Diagnostics Tool (MSDT) file handler using Microsoft Office documents. Attackers may employ phishing or social engineering to convince users to open an attached file, allowing them to acquire access to the victim’s complete system.

Microsoft has previously provided instructions and a security update under CVE-2022-30190 in response to the vulnerability. Microsoft noted in a blog post that attackers might exploit the vulnerability to successfully install apps, access, edit, or remove data, or create new accounts.