CVE-2012-0016

Exp

Untrusted search path vulnerability in Microsoft Expression Design; Expression Design SP1; and Expression Design 2, 3, and 4 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in the current working directory, as demonstrated by a directory that contains a .xpr or .DESIGN file, aka "Expression Design Insecure Library Loading Vulnerability."

Published: 2012-03-13 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-0016 is rated High Exploit Risk (83/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 44.02%, 98th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2012-0016

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
29858 exploit_db edb 2013-11-27 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2012-0016

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-18 47.41% 44.02% -3.39%
2 2026-02-02 48.74% 47.41% -1.33%
3 2025-11-12 — 48.74% —

Full EPSS history (21 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-0016

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-0016

NVD evaluator notes for CVE-2012-0016

Impact: Per: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms12-022 'This is a remote code execution vulnerability.'

Comment: Per: http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/426.html 'CWE-426: Untrusted Search Path'

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-0016

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft expression_design — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:expression_design:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft expression_design — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:expression_design:-:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft expression_design 2 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:expression_design:2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft expression_design 3 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:expression_design:3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft expression_design 4 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:expression_design:4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-0016

cvelogic Threat Intelligence