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OfficeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2016-7290

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-12-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
74/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word for Mac 2011, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2, 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 document, aka "Microsoft Office Information Disclosure Vulnerability," a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-7291.

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 Word and related Office products caused by an out-of-bounds read when parsing a crafted document. Attackers can exploit this to read sensitive data from process memory or cause a denial of service by crashing the application. The vulnerability affects Word 2007 SP3, Office/Word 2010 SP2, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word for Mac 2011, and SharePoint/Office Web Apps 2010 SP2.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patches (MS16-148) to all affected Office installations and implement user training to avoid opening documents from untrusted sources.

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:= 2010
Office Compatibility PackApplication
Affected:all versions
Office Web AppsApplication
Affected:= 2010
Sharepoint ServerApplication
Affected:= 2010
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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 Word version on Windows
    Open Word and navigate to File > Account > About Word, or run 'winword.exe /?' from Command Prompt to display the version and build number
    Affected if The version shown is Word 2007 SP3 or Word 2010 SP2 (build 14.0.7182.5000 or earlier for 2010, or 12.0.x for 2007)
  2. Check Microsoft Office 2010 installation version
    Open any Office application, go to File > Help, and note the version under 'About Microsoft Office' - alternatively run 'cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus' from the Office SP2 volume license folder if available
    Affected if The Office version displayed is 2010 and the update version shown is earlier than the MS16-148 patch (version 14.0.7182.5000 or later is patched)
  3. Check if Office Compatibility Pack is installed
    Open Word and check if you can open .doc files - also check installed programs in Control Panel > Programs and Features for 'Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint'
    Affected if Office Compatibility Pack is listed in installed programs (all versions are affected per the CVE data)
  4. Check SharePoint Server 2010 version
    On the SharePoint server, open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration > System Settings > Manage servers in this farm, or run 'Get-SPFarm | Select-Object BuildVersion' in SharePoint Management Shell
    Affected if The SharePoint build version corresponds to SharePoint Server 2010 SP2 without the MS16-148 patch applied
  5. Check Office Web Apps 2010 version
    On the server hosting Office Web Apps, run 'Get-OfficeWebAppsServer | Select-Object Build' in SharePoint Management Shell, or check installed updates for KB3203382 (the MS16-148 update for Office Web Apps)
    Affected if Office Web Apps 2010 is running without KB3203382 installed

A user is affected if they have any of the listed products (Word 2007 SP3, Word 2010 SP2, Office 2010, Office Compatibility Pack, SharePoint Server 2010, Office Web Apps 2010, or Word for Mac 2011) installed and the MS16-148 patch (or product-specific KB update) has not been applied.

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 Microsoft security patches (MS16-148) to all affected Office installations and implement user training to avoid opening documents from untrusted sources.

Fix this in Office Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2016-7290 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