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Acrobat ReaderApplication · Adobe

CVE-2013-2735

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-05-16
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x before 9.5.5, 10.x before 10.1.7, and 11.x before 11.0.03 allow attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2013-2718, CVE-2013-2719, CVE-2013-2720, CVE-2013-2721, CVE-2013-2722, CVE-2013-2723, CVE-2013-2725, CVE-2013-2726, CVE-2013-2731, CVE-2013-2732, CVE-2013-2734, CVE-2013-2736, CVE-2013-3337, CVE-2013-3338, CVE-2013-3339, CVE-2013-3340, and CVE-2013-3341.

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 · moderate confidence

Adobe Reader and Acrobat versions 9.x before 9.5.5, 10.x before 10.1.7, and 11.x before 11.0.03 contain a memory corruption vulnerability that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service via unspecified vectors. This is a critical-rated (CVSS 10) flaw affecting the PDF rendering engine.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Reader and Acrobat to versions 9.5.5, 10.1.7, or 11.0.03 or later. Additionally, configure Adobe products to disable JavaScript execution in PDF files and exercise caution when opening PDF files from untrusted sources.

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
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:= 9.0= 9.1= 9.1.1= 9.1.2= 9.1.3= 9.2= 9.3= 9.3.1= 9.3.2= 9.3.3= 9.3.4= 9.4
AcrobatApplication
Affected:= 9.0= 9.1= 9.1.1= 9.1.2= 9.1.3= 9.2= 9.3= 9.3.1= 9.3.2= 9.3.3= 9.3.4= 9.4

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Adobe product installation
    Open Windows Control Panel and view installed programs, or on macOS check /Applications for Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat. Look for entries named 'Adobe Acrobat Reader' or 'Adobe Acrobat'.
    Affected if Either Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat is present on the system
  2. Retrieve Adobe Reader version
    Open Adobe Reader, then go to Help > About Adobe Reader. The version number displayed in the dialog window is the installed version.
    Affected if Version shows 9.0, 9.1, 9.1.1, 9.1.2, 9.1.3, 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 9.3.2, 9.3.3, 9.3.4, or 9.4 (or any 10.x before 10.1.7, or 11.x before 11.0.03)
  3. Retrieve Adobe Acrobat version
    Open Adobe Acrobat, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat. The version number displayed in the dialog window is the installed version.
    Affected if Version shows 9.0, 9.1, 9.1.1, 9.1.2, 9.1.3, 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 9.3.2, 9.3.3, 9.3.4, or 9.4 (or any 10.x before 10.1.7, or 11.x before 11.0.03)
  4. Check Windows registry for version (alternative)
    Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\ (or Adobe\Adobe Acrobat Reader\) and look at the Version value in the appropriate version folder (such as 9.0 or 10.0).
    Affected if The registry Version value matches an affected version number

The environment is affected if Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat is installed with any version in the 9.0-9.4 range, any 10.x before 10.1.7, or any 11.x before 11.0.03.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch www.adobe.com →
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Reader and Acrobat to versions 9.5.5, 10.1.7, or 11.0.03 or later. Additionally, configure Adobe products to disable JavaScript execution in PDF files and exercise caution when opening PDF files from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Reader/Acrobat 9.5.5 or later (or migrate to supported 10.x/11.x branches with fixes 10.1.7+/11.0.03+)

  1. 1. Verify current Adobe Reader or Acrobat version by opening the application and navigating to Help > About Adobe Reader/Acrobat
  2. 2. Navigate to the official Adobe download page or use the vendor patch URL: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb13-15.html
  3. 3. Download Adobe Reader 9.5.5 or later (or Adobe Acrobat 9.5.5 or later depending on your product)
  4. 4. Close all Adobe applications and any programs that use PDF functionality
  5. 5. Run the installer with administrator privileges
  6. 6. Follow the on-screen installation prompts to complete the update
  7. 7. After installation, verify the new version by checking Help > About to confirm the version number is 9.5.5 or higher
Caveat Upgrade typically seamless but test critical PDF workflows after updating; some legacy plugins may require updates

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Acrobat Reader Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-2735 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data