Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2016-7193 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Microsoft Word. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.9% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
Microsoft Word 2007 SP2, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Word 2016, Word for Mac 2011, Word 2016 for Mac, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word Viewer, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2 and 2013 SP1, Office Web Apps 2010 SP2, Office Web Apps Server 2013 SP1, and Office Online Server contain a memory corruption vulnerability tracked as CVE-2016-7193 and CWE-119. The flaw is triggered when these components process a specially crafted RTF document, resulting in arbitrary code execution.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the issue by supplying a malicious RTF file that a user opens in an affected Microsoft Word or Office application. Successful exploitation grants the attacker the ability to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the current user, affecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
The Microsoft security bulletin MS16-121, referenced in the advisory at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-121, addresses the vulnerability through security updates for the listed products and recommends applying the patches as the primary mitigation.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2016-8058
Vulnerability Data
Microsoft Word 2007 SP2, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Word 2016, Word for Mac 2011, Word 2016 for Mac, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word Viewer, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2, Word Automation…
more
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 RTF document, aka "Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability."
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 03 March 2022
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Ongoing control assessments and code testing (static/dynamic analysis, fuzzing) surface memory buffer restriction failures, which are then remediated before release.
Managed runtimes used by platform-independent applications (e.g., JVM, CLR) enforce memory safety, preventing most buffer overflows that require direct memory manipulation.
Memory protections (e.g., W^X, ASLR) make exploitation of buffer-boundary violations far harder to turn into code execution.
Detects exploitation attempts that produce memory corruption, crashes, or anomalous behavior.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
A.8.25 mandates secure SDLC practices (secure coding guidelines, security requirements, testing including code scans and penetration tests, developer training) that reach buffer management and can stop many buffer overruns from reaching production, but leaves a bounded remainder (e.g. flaws in non-software components, incomplete enforcement of guidelines, or post-deployment changes)
Application security requirements can specify memory-safety rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.
A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (e.g. least privilege, fail securely, distrust external input, hardening) plus design reviews that can catch and stop buffer-boundary errors before they reach code, but this is only one minority slice of CWE-119's broad surface (language-specific flaws, unsafe library use, compiler/runtime mitigations, and post-deployment instances remain outside its direct scope).
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer operations, directly eliminating CWE-119.
Security testing in development catches out-of-bounds accesses before release, covering most instances of the weakness.
Hardening callouts derived
DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.
- No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-119, a class-level weakness. Rules are authored against its narrower children: CWE-823.