CVE-2010-5213
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 · uneditedUntrusted search path vulnerability in Adobe LiveCycle Designer 8.2.1.3144.1.471865 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse .dll file in the current working directory, as demonstrated by a directory that contains a .tds 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 confidenceUntrusted search path vulnerability in Adobe LiveCycle Designer allows privilege escalation via DLL preloading. When the application opens a .tds file from a directory containing a malicious DLL, it loads the Trojan horse DLL from the current working directory instead of a trusted location, executing with the application's privileges.
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= 8.2.1.3144.1.471865CVSS 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 Adobe LiveCycle Designer installationCheck for Adobe LiveCycle Designer in the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\LiveCycle Designer or look in Program Files for the executable (Designer.exe). Use command: dir /s "C:\Program Files\Adobe\*LiveCycle*" or reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\LiveCycle Designer"Affected if Adobe LiveCycle Designer version 8.2.1.3144.1.471865 is found installed on the system
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Verify the exact installed versionRight-click Designer.exe, select Properties, then look at the Details tab for File Version, or run: reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\LiveCycle Designer" /v VersionAffected if The installed version matches exactly 8.2.1.3144.1.471865
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Check .tds file type associationLook for .tds file association in Windows registry under HKCR\.tds or check if .tds files open with Adobe LiveCycle Designer. Run: assoc .tds or reg query HKCR\.tdsAffected if The .tds file extension is associated with Adobe LiveCycle Designer, allowing the application to open these files
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Inspect application working directory behaviorAttempt to launch Adobe LiveCycle Designer from a directory containing a test .tds file and observe the current working directory. Check if the application loads DLLs from the current directory by monitoring with Process Monitor (procmon) during .tds file openingAffected if The application loads DLLs from the current working directory where the .tds file resides rather than using only trusted system paths
A user is affected if Adobe LiveCycle Designer version 8.2.1.3144.1.471865 is installed AND the system allows opening .tds files from arbitrary directories where a malicious DLL could be loaded.
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 .tds files from untrusted or shared network directories. Launch Adobe LiveCycle Designer from a trusted working directory and ensure the directory containing the .tds file is not writable by untrusted users. Monitor for anomalous DLL loading events.
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- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-5213 — 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-2010-5213 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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