Microsoft Office Equation Editor Memory Corruption Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (CVE-2018-0802) Technical Analysis and Hardening Guide

# Force Windows Update to search and install missing Microsoft Office security updates
$UpdateSession = New-Object -ComObject 'Microsoft.Update.Session'
$UpdateSearcher = $UpdateSession.CreateUpdateSearcher()
$SearchResult = $UpdateSearcher.Search("IsInstalled=0 and Type='Software' and Title like '%Office%'")

if ($SearchResult.Updates.Count -gt 0) {
    Write-Host 'Missing Office security updates found. Initiating installation...'
    # Automation logic for patch deployment
} else {
    Write-Host 'All Office security patches are up to date.'
}

# Disable Equation Editor (EQNEDT32.EXE) via Registry Killbit
$regPath = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Common\COM Compatibility\{0002CE02-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}'
if (-not (Test-Path $regPath)) {
    New-Item -Path $regPath -Force | Out-Null
}
New-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name 'Compatibility Flags' -Value 0x00000400 -PropertyType DWord -Force

# Apply the same mitigation for 32-bit Office on 64-bit Windows (Wow6432Node)
$wowRegPath = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\Common\COM Compatibility\{0002CE02-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}'
if (-not (Test-Path $wowRegPath)) {
    New-Item -Path $wowRegPath -Force | Out-Null
}
New-ItemProperty -Path $wowRegPath -Name 'Compatibility Flags' -Value 0x00000400 -PropertyType DWord -Force

# Audit system for the presence of EQNEDT32.EXE
$eqPaths = @(
    'C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\EQUATION\EQNEDT32.EXE',
    'C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\EQUATION\EQNEDT32.EXE'
)

foreach ($path in $eqPaths) {
    if (Test-Path $path) {
        $versionInfo = (Get-Item $path).VersionInfo
        Write-Warning "Vulnerable component detected: $path (Version: $($versionInfo.FileVersion))"
    } else {
        Write-Host "Secure: Component not found at $path"
    }
}