📄 Description (English)
Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability — Microsoft Office contains a memory corruption vulnerability which can allow for remote code execution.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2016-7193 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Office that allows remote code execution when a user opens a specially crafted RTF document. With a CVSS score of 9.0 and known exploits available in the wild, this vulnerability poses an immediate threat to any organization using Microsoft Office. The vulnerability was actively exploited and added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, making urgent patching essential.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: Apr 6, 2026 10:32
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability has widespread impact across all Saudi sectors that use Microsoft Office, which is virtually universal. Government entities regulated by NCA, banking institutions under SAMA oversight, Saudi Aramco and energy sector organizations, STC and telecom providers, and healthcare institutions are all at significant risk. Given that Microsoft Office is the standard productivity suite across Saudi organizations, and that RTF documents are commonly exchanged in business communications, the attack surface is extremely broad. Spear-phishing campaigns targeting Saudi government and critical infrastructure could leverage this vulnerability for initial access.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Government
Banking
Energy
Telecom
Healthcare
Education
Defense
Retail
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
9.2
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
Immediate Actions:
1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS16-121 (KB3194063) immediately across all systems running Microsoft Office.
2. Block RTF file attachments at email gateways and web proxies until patching is complete.
3. Enable Protected View in Microsoft Office to prevent automatic execution of malicious content.
Patching Guidance:
- Deploy the October 2016 Microsoft security updates via WSUS, SCCM, or your patch management solution.
- Prioritize systems with internet-facing email access and executive/VIP workstations.
- Verify patch deployment using vulnerability scanning tools.
Compensating Controls:
- Configure Microsoft Office File Block policy to prevent opening RTF files in Word.
- Deploy application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized code execution.
- Enable Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) rules if using Windows Defender.
Detection Rules:
- Monitor for suspicious RTF file processing by WINWORD.EXE.
- Alert on child processes spawned by Microsoft Office applications (e.g., cmd.exe, powershell.exe, mshta.exe).
- Deploy YARA rules for known exploit payloads targeting CVE-2016-7193.
- Monitor for unusual memory allocation patterns in Office processes.
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تطبيق نشرة أمان Microsoft رقم MS16-121 (KB3194063) فوراً على جميع الأنظمة التي تعمل بـ Microsoft Office.
2. حظر مرفقات ملفات RTF على بوابات البريد الإلكتروني وخوادم الوكيل حتى اكتمال التصحيح.
3. تفعيل العرض المحمي (Protected View) في Microsoft Office لمنع التنفيذ التلقائي للمحتوى الضار.
إرشادات التصحيح:
- نشر تحديثات أمان Microsoft لشهر أكتوبر 2016 عبر WSUS أو SCCM أو حل إدارة التصحيحات المستخدم.
- إعطاء الأولوية للأنظمة التي لديها وصول للبريد الإلكتروني عبر الإنترنت ومحطات عمل المسؤولين التنفيذيين.
- التحقق من نشر التصحيح باستخدام أدوات فحص الثغرات.
الضوابط التعويضية:
- تكوين سياسة حظر الملفات في Microsoft Office لمنع فتح ملفات RTF في Word.
- نشر القوائم البيضاء للتطبيقات لمنع تنفيذ التعليمات البرمجية غير المصرح بها.
- تفعيل قواعد تقليل سطح الهجوم (ASR) إذا كنت تستخدم Windows Defender.
قواعد الكشف:
- مراقبة معالجة ملفات RTF المشبوهة بواسطة WINWORD.EXE.
- التنبيه على العمليات الفرعية التي تنشأ من تطبيقات Office.
- نشر قواعد YARA للحمولات المعروفة التي تستهدف CVE-2016-7193.
- مراقبة أنماط تخصيص الذاكرة غير العادية في عمليات Office.
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
2-3-1 (Patch Management)
2-5-1 (Malware Protection)
2-2-1 (Asset Management)
2-6-1 (Email Security)
🔵 SAMA CSF
3.3.3 (Patch Management)
3.3.4 (Malware Protection)
3.3.7 (Email and Messaging Security)
3.1.3 (Cyber Security Risk Management)
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
A.8.8 (Management of technical vulnerabilities)
A.8.7 (Protection against malware)
A.8.23 (Web filtering)
A.5.7 (Threat intelligence)
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0
6.3.3 (Install critical security patches within one month)
5.2 (Deploy anti-malware mechanisms)
11.3 (Perform penetration testing)
🔗 References & Sources 0
No references.
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
Microsoft:Office