An outer COM object can be provided with privileged access to protected functionality in an inner COM object. An inner COM object can offer a custom protected interface to an outer COM object by creating a new inner internals COM object that is not available to a calling application or by creating a new extension IUnknown interface that can be used to access the protected content. An outer COM object can override behavior in an inner COM object. An inner COM object can offer access to custom behavior to an outer COM object by creating a new inner internals COM object that is not available to a calling application. The new inner internals COM object can implement a new interface that provides access to the customized (override) content or can create a new extension IUnknown interface that can be used to provide access to the customized (override) content.