Restricted users may have unauthorized access to Office 2008 for Mac program files

On a Macintosh computer that is configured to restrict user access to Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac to only those user accounts that have administrative permissions, some users who do not have administrative permissions may have unauthorized access to Office 2008 for Mac programs.

This problem affects only computers that have more than one local user account, and primarily affects environments, such as public computer labs and workplace networks, where access to program files is restricted.

This problem occurs when the non-administrative user account was assigned User ID (uid) 502. Office 2008 for Mac will grant administrative access to user accounts that have uid 502.

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the computer by using a user account that has administrative permissions.
2. On the Go menu, click Applications.
3. Open the Utilities folder.
4. Double-click Terminal.
5. In the Terminal window, type the following command on one line, and then press RETURN:
   /usr/bin/sudo /bin/chmod -R a-st "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008" "/Library/Automator" "/Library/Fonts/Microsoft" "/Library/Application Support/Microsoft"
6. Type the following command on one line, and then press RETURN:
   /usr/bin/sudo /usr/sbin/chown -h -R root:admin "/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008" "/Library/Automator" "/Library/Fonts/Microsoft" "/Library/Application Support/Microsoft"

If you are prompted to enter your administrative password, use the same administrative credentials that you used in step 1.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.