CVE-2016-7235
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, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Word for Mac 2011, Excel for Mac 2011, and Office Compatibility Pack SP3 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 Office products (Word 2007, Office/Word 2010 SP2, Word/Mac 2011, Excel for Mac 2011, Office Compatibility Pack SP3) that allows remote code execution via specially crafted Office documents.
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= 2011= 2010all versions= 2007= 2010= 2011CVSS 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 Word version on WindowsOpen Word, go to File > Account > About Word, or run 'winword.exe' and check the version in the title bar, or check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or legacy Office registry keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\[version]\Word\InstallRootAffected if Version is 2007 (12.x), 2010 (14.x), or matches the pattern 14.x for Office 2010/Word 2010
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Check Microsoft Excel version on MacOpen Excel for Mac 2011, go to Excel menu > About Excel, or check the application file info in /Applications/Microsoft Excel 2011.appAffected if Version is Excel for Mac 2011 (14.x)
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Check Microsoft Word for Mac versionOpen Word for Mac 2011, go to Word menu > About Word, or check the application file info in /Applications/Microsoft Word 2011.appAffected if Version is Word for Mac 2011 (14.x)
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Check Microsoft Office version on WindowsOpen any Office application, go to File > Account > About [App], or check registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\[version]\Common\InstallRootAffected if Office suite version is 2010 (14.x)
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Check Office Compatibility Pack versionCheck installed programs in Control Panel > Programs and Features, look for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint versions' and note the version, or check registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\CompatibilityPack\InstallRootAffected if Office Compatibility Pack is installed (all versions are affected)
If any of Word 2007, Word 2010, Excel for Mac 2011, Word for Mac 2011, Office 2010, or the Office Compatibility Pack is installed, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2016-7235 when opening malicious Office documents.
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 (MS16-121) to all affected Office installations; avoid opening untrusted Office documents and enable Protected View as an additional safeguard.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-7235 — 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-2016-7235 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