CVE-2016-7245
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 Office 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Office 2013 SP1, Office 2013 RT SP1, and Office 2016 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 confidenceThis is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office's document parsing components. Attackers exploit this by crafting malicious Office documents (likely Word, Excel, or similar) that trigger improper memory handling when opened, allowing arbitrary code execution with the victim's privileges.
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= 2016CVSS 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 if Microsoft Office is installedOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName' in PowerShell to list installed softwareAffected if Microsoft Office does not appear in the installed programs list, meaning the vulnerability does not apply
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Identify the installed Office version numberCheck the Windows Registry at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration or HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\[version]\Common\InstallRoot, where [version] is 12.0 for Office 2007, 14.0 for Office 2010, 15.0 for Office 2013, or 16.0 for Office 2016Affected if The registry key exists and the version matches 12.0, 14.0, 15.0, or 16.0 corresponding to Office 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016 respectively
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Confirm the specific Office application versionOpen any Office application (Word, Excel), go to File > Account > About [App], or run 'winword.exe /?' from Command Prompt to display version informationAffected if The displayed version matches 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016, confirming the installation falls within the affected version range
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Verify the patch status via Windows UpdateOpen Windows Update history (Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history) and search for security updates related to Microsoft Office, specifically KB3191822 for this CVEAffected if No corresponding security update (KB3191822 or later Office security bulletin) appears in the Windows Update history, indicating the system remains vulnerable
You are affected if Microsoft Office versions 2007, 2010, 2013, or 2016 are installed and the specific security update for this CVE 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 for the affected Office versions. Until patched, avoid opening Office documents from untrusted sources and enable Protected View in Microsoft Office settings.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $1,904.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-7245 — 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-2016-7245 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