CVE-2016-0140
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 Office 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2, and Office Web Apps 2010 SP2 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 confidenceA memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office parsing of crafted documents allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability affects Office 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2, and Office Web Apps 2010 SP2. Successful exploitation requires a user to open a specially crafted malicious Office document.
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= 2007= 2010= 2010= 2010CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Microsoft Office versionOpen any Office application (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), go to File > Account > About [App] or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office installationAffected if The version shown is Office 2007 Service Pack 3 or Office 2010 Service Pack 2
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Confirm Office service pack levelRun 'winver' or check Windows Update history for installed updates. Look for updates labeled 'Service Pack 3' for Office 2007 or 'Service Pack 2' for Office 2010Affected if Office 2007 with SP3 or Office 2010 with SP2 is installed (no further service packs applied)
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Check SharePoint Server 2010 installationOpen SharePoint Central Administration, go to Upgrade and Migration > Check product and patch installation status. Look for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 entryAffected if SharePoint Server 2010 with Service Pack 2 is installed and not patched beyond the CVE fix
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Check Office Web Apps 2010 installationOn SharePoint server, open SharePoint Management Shell and run Get-SPWebApplication to list web applications, then check if Office Web Apps 2010 is configured via Get-OfficeWebAppsFarmAffected if Office Web Apps 2010 SP2 is deployed in the environment
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Verify if CVE patch is installedCheck Windows Update history or open Control Panel > Programs > View installed updates. Search for security update KB3115109 (for Office 2007) or KB3115121 (for Office 2010)Affected if The specific KB update for CVE-2016-0140 is NOT listed as installed
Your environment is affected if you have Office 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, SharePoint Server 2010 SP2, or Office Web Apps 2010 SP2 installed and the corresponding security update (KB3115109 or KB3115121) has not been applied.
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 Microsoft security updates for CVE-2016-0140. Until patches are applied, warn users against opening untrusted Office documents and consider disabling Office file preview in email gateways.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-0140 — 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-2016-0140 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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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.
- 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