CVE-2016-0010 in Office
Summary
by MITRE
Microsoft Office 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Office 2013 SP1, Office 2013 RT SP1, Office 2016, Excel for Mac 2011, PowerPoint for Mac 2011, Word for Mac 2011, Excel 2016 for Mac, PowerPoint 2016 for Mac, Word 2016 for Mac, and Word Viewer allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted Office document, aka "Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/21/2018
This vulnerability represents a critical memory corruption flaw affecting multiple versions of Microsoft Office across Windows and Mac platforms. The issue stems from insufficient input validation within the Office document parsing engine, specifically when processing malformed or specially crafted Office files. Attackers can exploit this weakness by embedding malicious code within seemingly legitimate Office documents such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. The vulnerability manifests as a buffer overflow or heap corruption condition that occurs during document rendering or processing operations, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the targeted user.
The technical exploitation of CVE-2016-0010 leverages the inherent trust users place in Office applications when opening documents, making it particularly dangerous in targeted attack scenarios. When a user opens a maliciously crafted Office document, the vulnerable parsing code fails to properly handle malformed input data structures, leading to memory corruption that can be controlled by an attacker to redirect execution flow. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions, and CWE-787, which covers out-of-bounds write operations. The attack vector is classified as remote code execution through social engineering, where victims are tricked into opening malicious documents via email attachments, web downloads, or malicious websites.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond individual user compromise to potentially enable broader network infiltration. Once successfully exploited, the malicious code can establish persistence mechanisms, exfiltrate sensitive data, or serve as a launchpad for additional attacks within the compromised environment. The vulnerability affects a wide range of Office products including legacy versions like Office 2007 and newer releases such as Office 2016, creating widespread exposure across enterprise environments. Organizations running these affected versions face significant risk, particularly those with limited patch management capabilities or users who frequently open documents from untrusted sources. The vulnerability also maps to ATT&CK technique T1059.005, which describes execution through PowerShell, as attackers often use Office documents as initial infection vectors to deploy additional malware payloads.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate patch deployment from Microsoft as the primary defense mechanism, alongside comprehensive user education regarding suspicious document attachments and email phishing attempts. Network segmentation and email filtering solutions can provide additional layers of protection by blocking known malicious file types and monitoring for suspicious document behavior. Security teams should implement application whitelisting policies to restrict execution of Office applications in high-risk environments, while monitoring for anomalous process behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should focus on identifying systems running unpatched versions of affected Office products, as this vulnerability represents a persistent threat vector that requires continuous monitoring and remediation efforts to maintain organizational security posture.