Office 2008 for the Mac has a security bug. As it happens, the Office 2008 incorrectly sets the permissions on several files during the install process. This can allow a local user on your Mac to modify the Office apps and some supporting libraries. This is only an issue if you have multiple users on your Mac. If so, you probably want to fix this.

The Office 2008 team is working on a fix for this problem. But in the meantime, you can fix it yourself using a couple simple commands on the terminal window. To fix this bug, open a terminal window (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal) and type the following on a single line and then press Enter:

/usr/bin/sudo /bin/chmod -R a-st "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008" "/Library/Automator" "/Library/Fonts/Microsoft""/Library/Application Support/Microsoft"


You'll be asked to confirm your administrator password. Once that command runs, run the following command, again on a single line, and press Enter:

/usr/bin/sudo /usr/sbin/chown -h -R root:admin "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008" "/Library/Automator" "/Library/Fonts/Microsoft" "/Library/Application Support/Microsoft"

That's all there is to it. Once you complete these two commands you will have plugged the Mac Office 2008 security bug.


For reference: http://www.officeformac.com/blog/Security-issue-in-Mac-Office-2008-Installer