CVE-2016-7298
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, Word Viewer, Office for Mac 2011, and Office 2016 for Mac allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted 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 functionality. Attackers can exploit this by sending specially crafted Office documents that trigger memory corruption, leading to arbitrary code execution or denial of service. The vulnerability affects multiple Office versions for both Windows and Mac platforms.
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= 2011= 2016all versionsCVSS 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.
-
Identify installed Microsoft Office product and versionOpen any Office application (such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint), click File, then Account or Help to view the version information. Alternatively, use the Office installation diagnostics or check Programs and Features in Control Panel for installed Microsoft Office products.Affected if The installed version is Office 2007, Office 2010, Office 2011 for Mac, or Office 2016 (both Windows and Mac).
-
Check for Microsoft Word Viewer installationCheck Programs and Features in Control Panel or use system search to locate Microsoft Word Viewer among installed programs. On Mac, check the Applications folder for Word Viewer.Affected if Microsoft Word Viewer is installed (all versions are affected).
-
Verify document parsing components are presentConfirm the Office installation includes the document parsing components required for opening Office files. This is typically present in a standard Office installation.Affected if Office document parsing components are present and the Office version matches the affected versions listed.
-
Confirm security updates are not appliedCheck installed updates via Windows Update history or the Office Update history. Look specifically for KB3191823 (Office 2010), KB3191827 (Office 2007), or their Mac counterparts.Affected if None of the specific security updates for this CVE are installed, leaving the vulnerability unpatched.
A user is affected if they have Office 2007, 2010, 2011 for Mac, or Office 2016 installed (or any version of Word Viewer) AND the security updates KB3191823 or KB3191827 have 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 KB3191823 (Office 2010), KB3191827 (Office 2007), and corresponding patches for Mac versions. Additionally, enable Protected View in Office to open documents in a sandbox and warn users not to open documents from untrusted sources.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-7298 — 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-2016-7298 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
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.
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