CVE-2010-5245
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 PDF-XChange Viewer 2.0 Build 54.0 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse wintab32.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 confidencePDF-XChange Viewer 2.0 Build 54.0 contains an untrusted search path vulnerability where the application loads the wintab32.dll library from the current working directory instead of a secure system path. When a user opens a PDF file from a directory containing a malicious wintab32.dll, the attacker can achieve local privilege escalation.
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= 2.0.54.0CVSS 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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Check the installed version of PDF-XChange ViewerOpen the application, go to Help > About, or right-click the executable and view Properties > Details to find the version numberAffected if The version is exactly 2.0.54.0
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Identify the current working directory when opening PDFsNote the folder location from which you typically open PDF files - this is the directory that will be the current working directory when the application loads DLLsAffected if You regularly open PDF files from directories that are writable by other users or that you received from untrusted sources
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Search for wintab32.dll in directories used to store PDFsUse File Explorer or the command line (dir /s C:\wintab32.dll or Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Path ~ -Filter wintab32.dll) to check if wintab32.dll exists in your document folders or download directoriesAffected if wintab32.dll is found in any folder where you store or receive PDF files
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Check the PDF-XChange Viewer application directoryLocate the installation folder of PDF-XChange Viewer (typically C:\Program Files\PDF-XChange Viewer or similar) and verify if wintab32.dll is present in that folderAffected if wintab32.dll exists in the application installation directory
You are affected if your installed PDF-XChange Viewer version is exactly 2.0.54.0 AND you open PDF files from directories that could contain a malicious wintab32.dll, or if wintab32.dll is present in your document or download folders.
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 dataEnsure the application is not run from or opened from untrusted directories containing potentially malicious DLLs. Consider updating to a patched version of PDF-XChange Viewer that implements secure DLL search path ordering.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-5245 — 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-2010-5245 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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