{"id":"CVE-2016-3235","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2016-3235"],"related":[],"title":"Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office OLE DLL Side Loading Vulnerability","description":"Microsoft Office Object Linking & Embedding (OLE) dynamic link library (DLL) contains a side loading vulnerability due to it improperly validating input before loading libraries. Successful exploitation allows for remote code execution.\n\nCISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.","summary":"Microsoft Office's OLE handling loads a DLL without validating its path, so a planted library can be loaded by Office. An attacker who gets a user to open a crafted document can run code as that user.","severity":"critical","cvss":9.3,"epss":0.43308,"exploited":true,"exploited_at":"2021-11-03T00:00:00+00:00","products":[{"name":"Microsoft Office","fixed":[],"affected":"","ecosystem":"vendor"}],"ecosystems":["vendor"],"tags":["exploited","infrastructure","microsoft-office","windows"],"not_affected_if":["unknown"],"how_to_check":null,"fix":"Apply the Microsoft Office security updates per vendor instructions (CISA required action); specific build numbers are unknown from the sources.","status":"open","published_at":"2016-06-16T01:59:36+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T19:11:53+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-23T21:41:52+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:34+00:00","category":"infrastructure","confidence":0.6,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-23T21:41:52Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"Apply the Microsoft Office security updates per vendor instructions (CISA required action); specific build numbers are unknown from the sources.","reach":"unknown","impact":"high","summary":"Microsoft Office's OLE handling loads a DLL without validating its path, so a planted library can be loaded by Office. An attacker who gets a user to open a crafted document can run code as that user.","category":"infrastructure","who_cares":["microsoft-office","windows"],"confidence":0.6,"needs_auth":"no","worst_case":"Code runs as the logged-in user after opening a crafted file","analyst_note":"Find the affected Office versions and the Microsoft bulletin (MS16-052 family) for exact patched builds and detection guidance at the KEV link in sources.","how_to_check":"unknown","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["unknown"],"user_interaction":"yes","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"high"},"cost_usd":0.000452,"input_tokens":2854,"output_tokens":334,"severity_before":"unknown"},"analyst_status":"queued","analyst_note":"Find the affected Office versions and the Microsoft bulletin (MS16-052 family) for exact patched builds and detection guidance at the KEV link in sources.","search":"'-2016':11A,14A '-3235':12A,15A 'action':95C 'allow':88C 'appli':96C 'attack':46B 'cisa':93C 'code':58B,91C 'contain':72C 'craft':54B 'cve':10A,13A 'dll':6A,31B,71C 'document':55B 'due':77C 'dynam':68C 'embed':66C 'execut':92C 'exploit':18B,87C 'get':48B 'handl':28B 'improp':80C 'infrastructur':19B 'input':82C 'instruct':100C 'librari':39B,70C,85C 'link':65C,69C 'load':8A,29B,42B,75C,84C 'microsoft':1A,3A,16A,21B,24B,62C 'microsoft-offic':20B 'object':64C 'offic':2A,4A,22B,25B,44B,63C 'office':17A 'ole':5A,27B,67C 'open':52B 'path':35B 'per':98C 'plant':38B 'remot':90C 'requir':94C 'run':57B 'side':7A,74C 'success':86C 'updat':97C 'user':50B,61B 'valid':33B,81C 'vendor':99C 'vulner':9A,76C 'window':23B 'without':32B","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":null,"tier":null,"verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"first_public_at":"2016-06-16T01:59:36+00:00","kev":{"dateAdded":"2021-11-03","dueDate":"2022-05-03","requiredAction":"Apply updates per vendor instructions.","knownRansomwareCampaignUse":"Unknown"},"cvss_vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","cvss_by":"nvd@nist.gov","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"kev","external_id":"CVE-2016-3235","url":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?search_api_fulltext=CVE-2016-3235","severity":null,"published_at":"2021-11-03T00:00:00+00:00","modified_at":null,"first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T19:11:53+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-25T13:39:33+00:00","note":null},{"source":"epss","external_id":"CVE-2016-3235","url":"https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2016-3235","severity":null,"published_at":null,"modified_at":null,"first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T19:13:44+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-23T19:13:44+00:00","note":null},{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2016-3235","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-3235","severity":null,"published_at":"2016-06-16T01:59:36+00:00","modified_at":"2026-06-17T00:45:20+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:34+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:34+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}