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Excel For MacApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2016-7233

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-11-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Word for Mac 2011, Excel for Mac 2011, Word Viewer, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2013 SP1, and Office Web Apps 2010 SP2 allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information from process memory or cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read) via a crafted Office document, aka "Microsoft Office 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 confidence

This is an information disclosure vulnerability in Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, Office suite components, and SharePoint/Office Web Apps) where a specially crafted Office document triggers an out-of-bounds read, allowing attackers to either read sensitive data from process memory or cause a denial of service via the memory access error.

MitigationApply the appropriate Microsoft security update for affected Office products; avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Office documents from untrusted sources as a defense-in-depth measure.

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
Excel For MacApplication
Affected:= 2011
OfficeApplication
Affected:= 2010
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:all versions
Office Web AppsApplication
Affected:= 2010
Sharepoint ServerApplication
Affected:= 2013
WordApplication
Affected:= 2007= 2010
Word Automation ServicesApplication
Affected:all versions
Word For MacApplication
Affected:= 2011

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
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 checks

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

  1. Check Microsoft Word installation and version
    Open Word, go to File > Account > About Word to view the version number, or check Programs and Features for installed Microsoft Office/Word version
    Affected if Version is 2007, 2010, or 2011 for Mac (or if Word is installed without a visible version number, further investigation is needed)
  2. Check Microsoft Excel installation and version
    Open Excel, go to File > Account > About Excel to view the version number, or check Programs and Features for installed Microsoft Office/Excel version
    Affected if Version is 2011 for Mac (or if Excel is installed without a visible version number, further investigation is needed)
  3. Check Microsoft Office suite installation and version
    Open any Office application, go to File > Account > About to view the Office suite version, or check Programs and Features for Microsoft Office entry
    Affected if Office 2010 is installed (or if Office is installed without a visible version number, further investigation is needed)
  4. Check for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack
    Check Programs and Features for entry 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint versions' or check for presence of compatibility converter DLLs in Office installation directory
    Affected if Compatibility Pack is installed (all versions are affected)
  5. Check for Microsoft SharePoint Server installation
    Check Programs and Features for Microsoft SharePoint Server entries or check installed SharePoint version via SharePoint Central Administration site
    Affected if SharePoint Server 2013 is installed
  6. Check for Office Web Apps or Word Automation Services
    Check installed programs for Microsoft Office Web Apps entries, or check SharePoint farm for Word Automation Services configuration via Central Administration
    Affected if Office Web Apps 2010 or Word Automation Services component is present on the system

If any of the listed Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, Office suite), Compatibility Pack, SharePoint Server 2013, Office Web Apps 2010, or Word Automation Services are installed and match the affected versions, the environment is potentially affected by CVE-2016-7233.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the appropriate Microsoft security update for affected Office products; avoid opening untrusted or unexpected Office documents from untrusted sources as a defense-in-depth measure.

Fix this in Excel For Mac Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,100
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2016-7233 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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