CVE-2016-3235

Exp

Microsoft Visio 2007 SP3, Visio 2010 SP2, Visio 2013 SP1, Visio 2016, Visio Viewer 2007 SP3, and Visio Viewer 2010 mishandle library loading, which allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka "Microsoft Office OLE DLL Side Loading Vulnerability."

Published: 2016-06-16 Last update: 2026-04-22 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-3235 is rated Critical Active Threat (90.5/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 81.16%, 99th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2021-11-03) affecting Microsoft / Office. Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

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

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2016-3235

Name: Microsoft Office OLE DLL Side Loading Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2021-11-03

Action due: 2022-05-03

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2016-3235

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
41706 exploit_db edb 2015-12-08 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-3235

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 2026-04-24 81.56% 81.16% -0.40%
2 2026-04-22 81.16% 81.56% +0.40%
3 2025-11-17 — 81.16% —

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-3235

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
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-2016-3235

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-3235

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft visio 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visio:2007:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft visio 2010 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visio:2010:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft visio 2013 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visio:2013:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft visio 2016 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visio:2016:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft visio_viewer 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visio_viewer:2007:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft visio_viewer 2010 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:visio_viewer:2010:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-3235

cvelogic Threat Intelligence