CVE-2016-7266

Microsoft Excel 2007 SP3, Excel 2010 SP2, Excel 2013 SP1, Excel 2013 RT SP1, Excel 2016, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Excel Viewer, and Excel 2016 for Mac mishandle a registry check, which allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via crafted embedded content in a document, aka "Microsoft Office Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability."

Published: 2016-12-20 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-7266 is rated Moderate Risk (64.9/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 16.89%, 95th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-7266

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 2026-02-04 16.36% 16.89% +0.53%
2 2025-03-30 19.73% 16.36% -3.36%
3 2025-03-29 — 19.73% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-7266

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/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]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-7266

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-7266

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft excel 2007 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2007:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2010 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2010:sp2:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft excel 2013 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2013:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2013 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2013:sp1:*:*:rt:*:*:*
microsoft excel 2016 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel:2016:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel_for_mac 2016 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel_for_mac:2016:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft excel_viewer — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:excel_viewer:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft office_compatibility_pack — cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:office_compatibility_pack:*:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-7266

cvelogic Threat Intelligence