CVE-2010-5209
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedMultiple untrusted search path vulnerabilities in Nuance PDF Reader 6.0 allow local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse (1) dwmapi.dll or (2) exceptiondumpdll.dll file in the current working directory, as demonstrated by a directory that contains a .pdf file. NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThis is a DLL hijacking (untrusted search path) vulnerability in Nuance PDF Reader 6.0. The application loads dwmapi.dll and exceptiondumpdll.dll from the current working directory without validating the path, allowing a local attacker to place a malicious DLL alongside a PDF file and achieve privilege escalation when a user opens that PDF or launches the application from that directory.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 6.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Nuance PDF Reader versionCheck the program version via Windows Registry (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{GUID} or check file version of PDFReader.exe in the installation directory) or use 'wmic product get name,version'Affected if The installed version is exactly 6.0 (the only affected version per vendor advisory)
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Locate the application executableFind the path to PDFReader.exe (typically in C:\Program Files\Nuance\PDF Reader 6.0 or similar)Affected if The application executable exists, confirming the vulnerable software is installed
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Verify DLL search behavior existsInspect the application's import table or run a DLL loading monitor (like Process Monitor) while launching the app to observe if it attempts to load dwmapi.dll and exceptiondumpdll.dll from the current working directoryAffected if The application attempts to load these DLLs from the current directory without path validation, which is the inherent vulnerability in version 6.0
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Assess user workflow for directory exposureDetermine if the user commonly opens PDF files from directories where other users or attackers could write files (shared network folders, public download folders, USB drives)Affected if Users open PDF files from or launch the application while their working directory is set to a world-writable location
You are affected if Nuance PDF Reader version 6.0 is installed and users open PDF files from directories where an attacker could place malicious dwmapi.dll or exceptiondumpdll.dll files.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataAvoid opening PDF files from untrusted or shared directories. Apply vendor patches if available; otherwise consider upgrading to a supported PDF reader version. Restrict write access to directories from which PDF Reader is launched.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-5209 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2010-5209 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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