CVE-2016-0025 in Office
Summary
by MITRE
Microsoft Word 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Office 2016, Word 2016, Word for Mac 2011, Word 2016 for Mac, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2013 SP1, Office Web Apps 2010 SP2, Office Web Apps Server 2013 SP1, and Office Online Server 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 • 08/23/2022
This vulnerability represents a critical memory corruption flaw in Microsoft Word and related Office applications that enables remote code execution through maliciously crafted Office documents. The vulnerability affects multiple versions spanning from Office 2007 through Office 2016 across various platforms including Windows and Mac operating systems. The flaw occurs during the processing of specially crafted Office documents, specifically when Word attempts to parse and render malicious content, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected systems.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation and memory handling within Microsoft Word's document parsing engine. When processing malformed Office documents, the application fails to properly validate memory boundaries and buffer operations, creating opportunities for attackers to manipulate memory structures and inject malicious code. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-121 category of "Stack-based Buffer Overflow" and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1203 which describes "Exploitation for Client Execution" through document-based attacks. The vulnerability specifically impacts the Word application's ability to safely handle embedded content and metadata within Office documents, particularly affecting rich text formatting and embedded objects.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on targeted systems without requiring user interaction beyond opening a malicious document. This makes it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where users frequently open documents from untrusted sources. The vulnerability can be exploited through various attack vectors including email attachments, web downloads, and document sharing platforms. Successful exploitation can result in complete system compromise, allowing attackers to install malware, steal sensitive data, establish persistence, and potentially move laterally within network environments. The wide range of affected products means that organizations with diverse Office deployments face significant exposure risk.
Organizations should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability including immediate deployment of Microsoft security patches and updates, network segmentation to limit document processing capabilities, email filtering to block suspicious attachments, and user education to avoid opening untrusted documents. System administrators should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies and monitoring for suspicious document processing activities. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and highlights the risks associated with legacy Office versions that may not receive continued support. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify systems that may still be running vulnerable versions of Office applications. Additionally, organizations should establish incident response procedures specifically addressing document-based attacks and consider implementing sandboxing technologies for document processing to isolate potentially malicious content from critical systems.