You could try saving the .docx file as a .doc, so an older version of Word and import that into Indesign. It works for the references but you might have problems with other Word plugins

I am currently writing my PhD thesis and I want to cry. I thought, easy peasy, I'll write everything in Word, use a Word plugin for references, and then flow the text into Indesign! My layout is a complete mess of random metadata and chunks of abstracts. I have hundreds of references and I don't know what to do.

PS: I believe it's a bracket problem, because lots of the metadata chunks that are mistakenly shown seem to end where a closed bracket should go.

I am having the same issue, I think. 350+ book file with multiple documents. Cross refs tag shows in Story Editor, but not in Cross ref pallete and did not update when page numbers were changed. Really frustrating. Please fix!!!!

This bug has become quite serious when a Word document that uses Word's cross-reference utility is imported into InDesign.

The underlying hidden code of the cross reference is brought into the live text in the InDesign layout. See https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2615282 and https://forums.adobe.com/message/10925779 for details.

Solution:
1) Correct the bug in InDesign's import utility that allows the hidden code to come into the live text thread.
2) Add the cross-reference information to InDesign's References panel.
3) Hyperlink the cross-reference citation in the body text to the cross reference itself in the references section at the end of the document.
4) Ensure that all cross-reference hyperlinks are accessible when the PDF is exported from the InDesign layout.