CVE-2016-0141
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 · uneditedThe Visual Basic macros in Microsoft Office 2007 SP3, 2010 SP2, 2013 SP1, and 2016 export a certificate-store private key during a document-save operation, which allows attackers to obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors, aka "Microsoft Information Disclosure 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 · moderate confidenceThis vulnerability allows Visual Basic macros in Microsoft Office to export certificate-store private keys during document-save operations. Attackers who can trigger the save operation with a malicious macro can obtain sensitive cryptographic private keys, potentially enabling document forgery or impersonation attacks.
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= 2013= 2016CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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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Determine installed Microsoft Office versionOpen any Office app (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), go to File > Account > About [App] or check Windows Programs and Features for Microsoft Office entryAffected if The version listed is 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016 (or any version within these release families)
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Verify Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro support is installedIn Office app, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings; confirm 'Enable all macros' or 'Disable all macros with notification' is selected (not 'Disable VBA for this application')Affected if VBA macros are available/enabled in the Office installation (any setting except fully disabled)
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Check current macro security configurationIn Trust Center > Macro Settings, observe the selected option: 'Enable all macros' (most vulnerable), 'Disable all macros with notification', or 'Disable all macros without notification'Affected if Macro security is set to 'Enable all macros' or 'Disable all macros with notification' - either allows macros to potentially execute
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Identify macro-enabled documents in the environmentSearch file shares or user directories for .docm, .xlsm, .pptm, .doc, .xls, .ppt files that may contain embedded VBA macrosAffected if Macro-enabled documents exist and users have permission to open them with macros enabled
You are affected if you run Office 2007/2010/2013/2016 with VBA macros enabled and have macro-enabled documents that could trigger the malicious save operation.
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 affected Office versions or disable Visual Basic macros in Office applications using Group Policy/macro settings to block untrusted macros from executing.
- 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-2016-0141 — 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-2016-0141 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