dbcve.org
Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 24 Mar 2022.
OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2016-7193

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2016-10-14
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS No privileges Patch available

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 · unedited
Microsoft Word 2007 SP2, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Word 2016, Word for Mac 2011, Word 2016 for Mac, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word Viewer, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2013 SP1, Office Web Apps 2010 SP2, Office Web Apps Server 2013 SP1, and Office Online Server allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted RTF 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 confidence

Memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Word and related Office products allows remote code execution via a crafted RTF (Rich Text Format) document. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of RTF files, enabling an attacker to trigger memory corruption and execute arbitrary code on the target system.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patches (MS16-120) to all affected Office installations, and disable RTF file handling in Word or block RTF attachments at the email gateway as a temporary workaround until patches are deployed.

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
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010= 2016
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:all versions
WordApplication
Affected:= 2010= 2011= 2013= 2016
Word ViewerApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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:3.1/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed Microsoft Office version
    Open Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or run 'winword /?' from command prompt, or check Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office installations
    Affected if Version is 2007, 2010, or 2016
  2. Check installed Microsoft Word version
    Open Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or run 'winword /?' from command prompt to see the exact version number
    Affected if Version is 2010, 2011, 2013, or 2016 (note: 2011 is Mac only)
  3. Check for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint' listed
    Affected if Compatibility Pack is installed (any version)
  4. Check for Microsoft Word Viewer
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for 'Microsoft Word Viewer' listed
    Affected if Word Viewer is installed (any version)
  5. Verify RTF file handling is enabled in Word
    Open Word > File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > File Block Settings, check if RTF files are set to 'Open in Protected View' or allowed. Also check if RTF file association exists in Windows (default location: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf)
    Affected if RTF file handling is enabled and documents can be opened from RTF files

User is affected if any Office/Word/Compatibility Pack/Word Viewer version matches the affected list AND RTF file handling is not completely disabled or blocked.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch docs.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security patches (MS16-120) to all affected Office installations, and disable RTF file handling in Word or block RTF attachments at the email gateway as a temporary workaround until patches are deployed.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS16-121 patches (KB3118301, KB3118302, KB3118303, KB3118304, KB3118395)

  1. Identify the installed Microsoft Office products and their exact versions (2007, 2010, 2013, 2016)
  2. For Office 2007 SP2: Install security update KB3118302 from Microsoft Security Bulletin MS16-121
  3. For Office 2010 SP2 (32-bit): Install security update KB3118301
  4. For Office 2010 SP2 (64-bit): Install security update KB3118301
  5. For Office 2013 SP1 (32-bit): Install security update KB3118303
  6. For Office 2013 SP1 (64-bit): Install security update KB3118303
  7. For Office 2016: Install security update KB3118304
  8. For Office Compatibility Pack SP3: Install security update KB3118302
Caveat Standard Office security patches rarely introduce breaking changes; updates are cumulative and include prior security fixes

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Office Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
Get it fixed fast

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 locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-7193 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-7193 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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