CVE-2016-0012 in Office
Summary
by MITRE
Microsoft Office 2007 SP3, Excel 2007 SP3, PowerPoint 2007 SP3, Visio 2007 SP3, Word 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Excel 2010 SP2, PowerPoint 2010 SP2, Visio 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Office 2013 SP1, Excel 2013 SP1, PowerPoint 2013 SP1, Visio 2013 SP1, Word 2013 SP1, Excel 2013 RT SP1, PowerPoint 2013 RT SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Office 2016, Excel 2016, PowerPoint 2016, Visio 2016, Word 2016, and Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime allow remote attackers to bypass the ASLR protection mechanism via unspecified vectors, aka "Microsoft Office ASLR Bypass."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/20/2019
This vulnerability represents a critical security flaw in Microsoft Office products that affects multiple versions from 2007 through 2016, along with Visual Basic 6.0 Runtime components. The issue specifically targets the Address Space Layout Randomization protection mechanism, which is a fundamental security feature designed to prevent exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities by randomizing the memory layout of processes. ASLR serves as a crucial defense-in-depth measure that makes it significantly more difficult for attackers to predict memory addresses and execute successful exploits. The vulnerability allows remote attackers to bypass this essential protection mechanism through unspecified attack vectors, effectively undermining the security posture of affected systems.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper implementation of ASLR within the Microsoft Office applications and runtime components. When ASLR is properly functioning, it randomizes the base addresses of executable modules, heap memory, and stack locations, making it extremely challenging for attackers to exploit buffer overflows or other memory corruption vulnerabilities. However, this flaw in Microsoft Office products allows adversaries to predict memory layouts that should have been randomized, thereby enabling more sophisticated exploitation techniques. The unspecified vectors suggest that the bypass could occur through various methods including malformed file processing, specific API calls, or manipulation of application initialization sequences that affect memory layout decisions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial as it significantly increases the attack surface for remote code execution exploits targeting Microsoft Office applications. Attackers can leverage this ASLR bypass to execute malicious code with the privileges of the affected user, potentially leading to complete system compromise. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where Office applications are frequently used to process documents from untrusted sources, making it a prime target for spear-phishing campaigns and targeted attacks. The widespread adoption of affected Office versions means that organizations across various industries remain at risk, especially those with legacy systems that may not have received timely security updates.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation through Microsoft security updates and patches that address the ASLR bypass vulnerability. System administrators should implement network segmentation and access controls to limit the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts. Additional mitigations include enabling enhanced security features such as Data Execution Prevention, disabling unnecessary Office features, and implementing strict document handling policies. The vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK framework techniques including T1059 for command and scripting interpreter usage, and T1203 for exploitation for privilege escalation. From a CWE perspective, this represents a weakness in the implementation of security features, specifically related to improper implementation of memory protection mechanisms and insufficient randomization of memory layouts. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify systems that may still be running affected versions of Microsoft Office products.