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Excel For MacApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2016-0010

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-01-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Microsoft Office 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Office 2013 SP1, Office 2013 RT SP1, Office 2016, Excel for Mac 2011, PowerPoint for Mac 2011, Word for Mac 2011, Excel 2016 for Mac, PowerPoint 2016 for Mac, Word 2016 for Mac, and Word Viewer allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Office document, aka "Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability."

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office's document parsing components allows remote code execution when users open specially crafted Office documents (Excel, PowerPoint, Word). The vulnerability stems from improper handling of Office file formats, enabling attackers to inject and execute arbitrary code via maliciously constructed files.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patch MS16-004 to all affected Office installations. Additionally, implement controls to prevent opening Office documents from untrusted or unknown sources, and consider deploying Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) as an additional defense layer.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Excel For MacApplication
Affected:= 2011= 2016
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010= 2013= 2016
Powerpoint For MacApplication
Affected:= 2011= 2016
Word For MacApplication
Affected:= 2011= 2016
Word ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Microsoft Office products
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or use 'Get-ItemProperty' PowerShell command to list installed Microsoft Office applications (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Word Viewer)
    Affected if Any of the following products are installed: Microsoft Excel for Mac 2011/2016, Microsoft Office 2007/2010/2013/2016, Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 2011/2016, Microsoft Word for Mac 2011/2016, or Microsoft Word Viewer (any version)
  2. Determine Office product version
    Open the application (Excel/Word/PowerPoint), go to File > Account > About [AppName], or run 'winword.exe /?' from Command Prompt to display version information
    Affected if The version matches any of the following: Microsoft Office 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016; Excel for Mac 2011 or 2016; PowerPoint for Mac 2011 or 2016; Word for Mac 2011 or 2016; or any version of Word Viewer
  3. Check if MS16-004 patch is applied
    Open Windows Update history (Control Panel > Windows Update > View update history) and search for security update KB3114342 (MS16-004), or use PowerShell: 'Get-HotFix | Where-Object {$_.Description -eq "Security Update"}'
    Affected if The MS16-004 security patch (KB3114342) is NOT installed, meaning the vulnerability remains unpatched
  4. Verify vulnerability is reachable
    The vulnerability is triggered when users open specially crafted Office documents. No specific feature toggle exists; confirm users regularly open Office file attachments or documents from external sources
    Affected if Users have the ability to open Office documents (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) from any source, which is the standard default configuration

If any affected Microsoft Office product (Excel/PowerPoint/Word 2007-2016, Office for Mac 2011/2016, or Word Viewer) is installed WITHOUT the MS16-004 security patch applied, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2016-0010.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security patch MS16-004 to all affected Office installations. Additionally, implement controls to prevent opening Office documents from untrusted or unknown sources, and consider deploying Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) as an additional defense layer.

Fix this in Excel For Mac Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-0010 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data