Security Resilience

CVE-2017-11826

Memory Safety in Microsoft Word 2007 … 2016

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCMemory Safety
Published
13 October 2017
Modified
22 April 2026
KEV Added
03 March 2022
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.81 99.6th percentile
Risk Priority 83 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2017-11826 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 0.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2017-11826 is a memory corruption vulnerability, tracked under CWE-119, that affects multiple Microsoft Office and SharePoint components including Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010 and Enterprise Server 2010, Office Web Apps Server 2010 and 2013, Word 2007 through 2016, Word Viewer, Word Automation Services, and Office Online Server. The flaw arises when the software fails to properly handle objects in memory, enabling remote code execution.

An attacker can exploit the issue by supplying a specially crafted document that triggers the memory corruption when opened by the victim. The CVSS vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R) indicates local attack vector with no privileges required and only user interaction needed, resulting in high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability once code execution is achieved.

Microsoft's Security Response Center advisory and related vendor bulletins address mitigation through available security updates for the affected products. Public analyses, including those from McAfee and 0patch, confirm the vulnerability was observed being exploited in the wild as a zero-day prior to patching.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Microsoft Office 2010, SharePoint Enterprise Server 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Web Applications, Office Web Apps Server 2010 and 2013, Word Viewer, Word 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016, Word Automation Services, and Office Online Server allow remote code execution when the…

more

software fails to properly handle objects in memory.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
03 March 2022

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2016-7193Same product: Microsoft Office Compatibility Packboth on KEV
CVE-2017-0022Same vendor: Microsoftboth on KEV
CVE-2021-31979Same vendor: Microsoftboth on KEV
CVE-2017-11882Same vendor: Microsoftboth on KEV
CVE-2017-0101Same vendor: Microsoftboth on KEV
CVE-2014-6332Same vendor: Microsoftboth on KEV
CVE-2011-1889Same vendor: Microsoftboth on KEV
CVE-2015-2546Same vendor: Microsoftboth on KEV
CVE-2012-2539Same product: Microsoft Office Compatibility Packboth on KEV
CVE-2020-0796Same vendor: Microsoftboth on KEV

Affected Assets

microsoft
office compatibility pack
all versions
microsoft
office online server
2016
microsoft
office web apps server
2010, 2013
microsoft
office word viewer
all versions
microsoft
sharepoint enterprise server
2016
microsoft
sharepoint server
2010, 2013
microsoft
word
2007, 2010, 2013, 2016

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.

addresses: CWE-119

Ongoing control assessments and code testing (static/dynamic analysis, fuzzing) surface memory buffer restriction failures, which are then remediated before release.

addresses: CWE-119

Managed runtimes used by platform-independent applications (e.g., JVM, CLR) enforce memory safety, preventing most buffer overflows that require direct memory manipulation.

addresses: CWE-119

Memory protections (e.g., W^X, ASLR) make exploitation of buffer-boundary violations far harder to turn into code execution.

addresses: CWE-119

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.

blocks

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)

blocks

Application security requirements can specify memory-safety rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

blocks

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).

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer operations, directly eliminating CWE-119.

finds

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.

References