CVE-2016-3280
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 Word 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Word for Mac 2011, Word 2016 for Mac, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, 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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word and related Office products that allows remote code execution when parsing a specially crafted Office document. The vulnerability occurs during document parsing and enables attackers to execute arbitrary code via the opened malicious file.
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= 2010all versions= 2007= 2010= 2013= 2011= 2016= 2013all 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
- 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 Microsoft Office/Word versionOpen Word, go to File > Account > About Word to see the version number, or check Programs and Features in Control Panel for installed Microsoft Office/Word versionsAffected if Version is 2010, 2007, or 2013 (or any version in these release years if the affected range includes earlier versions)
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Check Microsoft Word for Mac versionOpen Word for Mac, go to Word menu > About Word to display the version numberAffected if Version is 2011 or 2016 (or any version matching the affected range)
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Check Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack versionOpen Word, go to File > Help to see the version, or check installed programs in Control Panel for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint'Affected if Any installed version (all versions are affected)
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Check Microsoft Word Viewer versionCheck installed programs in Control Panel for 'Microsoft Word Viewer', or locate the executable (wordview.exe) and check its file properties for version informationAffected if Any installed version (all versions are affected)
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Verify security update statusOpen Word, go to File > Account > Update Options > View Update History, or check Windows Update history for security update KB3178683 (part of MS16-088) or later cumulative Office updatesAffected if MS16-088 (KB3178683) or later cumulative security updates have NOT been applied
You are affected if you have any of the affected Office products installed AND the MS16-088 security update 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 (MS16-088 or later cumulative updates) to all affected Office products; disable macro execution for untrusted documents and employ endpoint protection to detect malicious Office files.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-3280 — 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-2016-3280 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