Why does MS Word open files in “Protected Mode”? Like is there really any threat for a “Protected Mode” to be needed?

Question

Why does MS Word open files in “Protected Mode”? Like is there really any threat for a “Protected Mode” to be needed?

In: 24

Answer 1

Word (well Office) documents can contain executable code. That code can be made to run upon opening the document. That code could also be malicious, exploiting a loophole somewhere allowing it to do things code from a Word document shouldn’t be able to do.

So Word opens document in a safe mode first where code in it is not executed.