Microsoft · Office
CVE-2016-3235
Microsoft Office OLE DLL Side Loading Vulnerability
What it is
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."
CISA: 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.
What to do
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Deadline for US federal agencies: May 3, 2022
- Added to the CISA list
- November 3, 2021
- Published
- June 16, 2016
- Severity
- High 7.8 CVSS 3.1
- Chance of attacks in the next 30 days (EPSS)
- 43% in the top 1.3% of all known vulnerabilities
- Weakness
- CWE-264
- More details
- NVD · CVE.org · CISA
All references (6)
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-070
- https://www.securify.nl/advisory/SFY20150804/microsoft_visio_multiple_dll_side_loading_vulnerabilities.html
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/538685/100/0/threaded
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036093
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/137490/Microsoft-Visio-DLL-Hijacking.html
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Jun/32
More exploited flaws from Microsoft
| Added | Vulnerability | Product | Severity | Attack chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 14, 2026 | Remote Code Execution | Office | High 8.8 | 43% |
| Feb 10, 2026 | Word Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision | Office | High 7.8 | 1.6% |
| Jan 26, 2026 | Security Feature Bypass | Office | High 7.8 | 71% |
| Jan 7, 2026 | PowerPoint Code Injection | Office | High 8.8 | 67% |
| Aug 12, 2025 | Excel Remote Code Execution | Office | High 8.8 | 43% |
| Mar 14, 2023 | Outlook Privilege Escalation | Office | Critical 9.8 | 97% |
| Feb 14, 2023 | Publisher Security Feature Bypass | Office | High 7.3 | 12% |
| Jun 8, 2022 | Object Record Corruption | Office | High 7.8 | 53% |
Sources: Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (CISA, public domain), CVE records (cve.org) and EPSS (FIRST). The chance of attacks is the EPSS estimate that someone will try to exploit the flaw in the next 30 days.