CVE-2016-3271
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 VBScript engine in Microsoft Edge allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information from process memory via a crafted web site, aka "Scripting Engine 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 · high confidenceThis is an information disclosure vulnerability in the VBScript engine within Microsoft Edge. Attackers can exploit this by tricking users into visiting a specially crafted webpage, which allows the attacker to read sensitive data from the process memory, potentially exposing session tokens, credentials, or other memory-resident information.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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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Verify Microsoft Edge is installedCheck for the presence of Microsoft Edge by looking in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe or C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe, or run Get-Process msedge in PowerShellAffected if Edge is installed and the system has not applied security update KB3175443
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Confirm VBScript execution is enabled in EdgeIn Edge, go to Settings > Advanced settings and look for 'Enable VBScript' under the 'VBScript' setting, or inspect the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\VBScript (if present, 0 means disabled, 1 means enabled)Affected if VBScript is enabled in Edge settings - this is the vulnerable component that allows the memory disclosure to occur
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Verify the security update KB3175443 is not appliedOpen Windows Update > View update history, or run 'Get-HotFix -KBArticle KB3175443' in PowerShell, or check Add/Remove Programs > Show updates to see if KB3175443 appears in the installed updates listAffected if The update KB3175443 is NOT listed as installed - this means the VBScript vulnerability remains unpatched and the system is vulnerable
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Check Edge version as secondary indicatorLaunch Edge, go to edge://settings/help, or run (Get-Item 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe').VersionInfo.FileVersion in PowerShellAffected if The installed version is below the version that included the KB3175443 patch (this check is secondary since Edge updates automatically and version numbers vary)
A system is affected if Microsoft Edge is installed with VBScript enabled and security update KB3175443 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 update KB3175443 (or subsequent cumulative updates) to patch the VBScript engine vulnerability. Until patched, consider restricting or disabling VBScript execution in Edge via Group Policy, and warn users against visiting untrusted websites.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-3271 — 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-2016-3271 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