Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2016-7277: Microsoft Office: Memory corruption

CVE-2016-7277 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.6 and affects Microsoft Office. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

Microsoft Office 2016 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted document, aka "Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability."

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.0 9.6: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

• Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
• Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
• Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
• User interaction: Required. A user must take an action, such as opening a file or following a link.
• Scope: Changed. Impact reaches beyond the vulnerable component to other resources.
• Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
• Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
• Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary.

Affected products

• Microsoft Office: 2016

References

• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94715
• http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037441
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-148