CVE-2016-0033
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 · uneditedMicrosoft .NET Framework 2.0 SP2, 3.5, 3.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, and 4.6.1 does not prevent recursive compilation of XSLT transforms, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (performance degradation) via crafted XSLT data, aka ".NET Framework Stack Overflow Denial of Service 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 confidenceThe vulnerability exists in Microsoft .NET Framework's XSLT transformation engine, which fails to prevent recursive compilation of XSLT transforms. Remote attackers can exploit this by submitting specially crafted XSLT data, causing a stack overflow that leads to denial of service through performance degradation.
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= 2.0= 3.5= 3.5.1= 4.5.2= 4.6= 4.6.1CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed .NET Framework versionCheck the Windows Registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full (for .NET 4.x) or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v2.0 for .NET 2.0/3.x. Use command: reg query 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full' /v VersionAffected if The installed version matches 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, or for .NET 2.0/3.x versions check registry subkeys under v2.0 for version 2.0, 3.5, or 3.5.1
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Verify XSLT processing capabilityCheck if System.Xml or System.Xml.Linq assemblies are loaded by the application. Review application code or dependencies for usage of XslCompiledTransform class or other XSLT processors.Affected if The application uses System.Xml.Xsl.XslCompiledTransform, System.Xml.Xsl.XslTransform, or other XSLT processing classes to transform XML data.
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Assess XSLT input sourceReview application endpoints or interfaces that accept XML or XSLT input. Check web services, file upload functionality, or configuration files that reference external XSLT stylesheets.Affected if The application accepts XML or XSLT content from untrusted sources, including user uploads, API requests, or external URL references without validation.
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Check for recursive XSLT processing patternsAnalyze XSLT stylesheets for recursive template calls, include/import chains, or compute-intensive operations that could trigger deep recursion.Affected if The XSLT stylesheets contain recursive template references or complex transformations that could be exploited to cause excessive recursion.
The environment is affected if it runs any of the listed .NET Framework versions (2.0, 3.5, 3.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1) AND processes untrusted XSLT content through the affected XSLT transformation engine.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply the relevant Microsoft security update (MS16-035) to all affected .NET Framework installations. Additionally, implement input validation to restrict or sanitize XSLT data from untrusted sources, and consider network-level filtering of XML/XSLT content where feasible.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-0033 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-0033 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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