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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 24 Mar 2022.
AcrobatApplication · Adobe

CVE-2014-0496

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2014-01-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.1.9 / 11.0.6 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 10.x before 10.1.9 and 11.x before 11.0.06 on Windows and Mac OS X allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.

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 confidence

Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 10.x before 10.1.9 and 11.x before 11.0.06 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors. The vulnerability stems from memory being freed while pointers to it still exist, enabling controlled memory reuse for code execution.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Reader and Acrobat to version 10.1.9 or 11.0.06 or later to remediate the vulnerability.

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
AcrobatApplication
Affected:>= 10.0, < 10.1.9>= 11.0, < 11.0.6

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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. Check Adobe Acrobat version on Windows
    Open Windows Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\Version (or 11.0\ProductVersion for 11.x branch), or right-click the AcroRd32.exe/Acrobat.exe file in Program Files, select Properties, and view the Version tab
    Affected if the ProductVersion value is 10.x less than 10.1.9, or 11.x less than 11.0.6
  2. Check Adobe Acrobat version on Mac OS X
    Open Finder, navigate to /Applications/Adobe Acrobat XI (or X), right-click the Adobe Acrobat app, select Get Info, and read the Version number under the General section
    Affected if the version displayed is 10.x less than 10.1.9, or 11.x less than 11.0.6
  3. Check Adobe Reader version on Windows
    Open Windows Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Reader\Version (or 11.0\ProductVersion for 11.x branch), or right-click the AcroRd32.exe file in Program Files, select Properties, and view the Version tab
    Affected if the ProductVersion value is 10.x less than 10.1.9, or 11.x less than 11.0.6
  4. Check Adobe Reader version on Mac OS X
    Open Finder, navigate to /Applications/Adobe Reader XI (or X), right-click the Adobe Reader app, select Get Info, and read the Version number
    Affected if the version displayed is 10.x less than 10.1.9, or 11.x less than 11.0.6
  5. Verify exact version string
    Within the software, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or Reader) to confirm the full version number including the minor release (for example, 10.1.8 or 11.0.5)
    Affected if the version shown is any release from 10.0 through 10.1.8, or 11.0 through 11.0.5

A system is affected if Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader version is 10.0 to 10.1.8 (10.x branch) or 11.0 to 11.0.5 (11.x branch) on Windows or Mac OS X, since the use-after-free flaw exists in the core application regardless of specific features enabled.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.1.9 / 11.0.6 or later
Fixed in 10.1.911.0.6
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Reader and Acrobat to version 10.1.9 or 11.0.06 or later to remediate the vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Acrobat 10.1.9 (for 10.x) or Adobe Acrobat 11.0.6 (for 11.x), or later versions

  1. Close all Adobe Reader and Acrobat applications before beginning the update
  2. Navigate to the official Adobe Acrobat support page (helpx.adobe.com) to download the latest version
  3. For Adobe Acrobat 10.x users: download and install version 10.1.9 or later
  4. For Adobe Acrobat 11.x users: download and install version 11.0.6 or later
  5. Alternatively, open Adobe Acrobat/Reader and go to Help > Check for Updates to receive the patched version automatically
  6. Follow the on-screen installation prompts to complete the update
  7. Restart your computer if prompted by the installer
  8. After installation, verify the version by opening Adobe Acrobat/Reader and navigating to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader to confirm the version number matches 10.1.9 or later for 10.x, or 11.0.6 or later for 11.x
Caveat Standard upgrade considerations apply - review any new features or changed defaults in release notes; ensure compatibility with existing workflows before deploying broadly

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

Fix this in Acrobat Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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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-2014-0496 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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