CVE-2016-3363
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 Excel 2007 SP3, Excel 2010 SP2, Excel 2013 SP1, Excel 2013 RT SP1, Excel 2016, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, and Excel Viewer allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted document, aka "Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability," a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-3381.
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 Excel parsing of crafted documents allows remote code execution. The vulnerability affects multiple Excel versions and related Office components via specially crafted .xls files that trigger memory corruption during document parsing.
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= 2016all versionsall 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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Identify installed Microsoft Excel versionOpen Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel, or run `winver` and search for Microsoft Office/Excel version info in Programs and FeaturesAffected if Version is 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016 (specific build numbers within these versions are affected; compare your exact build to Microsoft security bulletins KB3118005, KB3118003, KB3118007)
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Check for Microsoft Excel Viewer installationOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run `Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product` in PowerShell to list installed softwareAffected if Microsoft Excel Viewer is listed (all versions are affected)
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Check for Microsoft Office Compatibility PackOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word/Excel/PowerPoint File FormatsAffected if Office Compatibility Pack is installed (all versions are affected)
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Confirm file association for .xls filesRight-click any .xls file > Properties > Opens with, or check registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xlsAffected if Default handler is any Microsoft Excel version, Excel Viewer, or Office program that uses the Compatibility Pack (this confirms the attack surface exists)
You are affected if any installed Excel product, Excel Viewer, or Office Compatibility Pack version falls within the affected ranges and the system can open .xls files.
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 KB3118005 (Excel 2007/2010), KB3118003 (Excel 2013), and KB3118007 (Excel 2016) or later. Additionally, configure the Mail Exchange server to block Excel attachments and educate users to avoid opening untrusted documents.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-3363 — 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-2016-3363 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