CVE-2016-0198 in Office
Summary
by MITRE
Microsoft Word 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Word 2016, Word for Mac 2011, Word 2016 for Mac, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, 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 • 08/18/2022
This vulnerability represents a critical memory corruption flaw affecting multiple versions of Microsoft Word and Office applications across different platforms. The issue stems from insufficient input validation when processing specially crafted Office documents, creating a condition where attacker-controlled data can overwrite memory locations beyond the intended buffer boundaries. The vulnerability specifically affects Microsoft Word 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Word 2016, Word for Mac 2011, Word 2016 for Mac, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, and Word Viewer. The flaw allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the logged-on user, potentially leading to complete system compromise.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions where insufficient boundary checking allows attackers to write beyond allocated memory regions. This memory corruption occurs during the parsing of Office document formats, particularly when handling malformed or specially constructed elements within the document structure. Attackers can craft malicious Office documents that, when opened by vulnerable applications, trigger the buffer overflow condition and subsequently execute malicious code. The vulnerability operates through the typical attack pattern of code execution via memory corruption, where the attacker's payload is placed in memory locations that are subsequently executed by the vulnerable application.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching, as it affects widely deployed Office applications across enterprise environments and individual users. The remote exploitation capability means that attackers can deliver malicious documents through email attachments, web downloads, or other network-based delivery mechanisms without requiring local access to the target system. Successful exploitation can result in complete system compromise, allowing attackers to install malware, steal sensitive data, or establish persistent access to affected systems. The vulnerability's presence in multiple Office versions and platforms increases the attack surface significantly, making it particularly dangerous for organizations with diverse Microsoft Office deployments.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant Microsoft security updates and patches as released through Microsoft Update or Windows Update services. System administrators should also consider implementing additional protective measures such as disabling automatic opening of Office documents from untrusted sources, configuring Office applications to open documents in protected view mode, and implementing email filtering solutions that can detect and block potentially malicious Office documents. Network segmentation and endpoint protection solutions should be deployed to limit the potential spread of exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework would include techniques such as T1203 (Exploitation for Client Execution) and T1059 (Command and Scripting Interpreter) as attackers leverage this flaw to execute malicious code and establish persistence within compromised systems.