CVE-2016-1042
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 · uneditedAdobe Reader and Acrobat before 11.0.16, Acrobat and Acrobat Reader DC Classic before 15.006.30172, and Acrobat and Acrobat Reader DC Continuous before 15.016.20039 on Windows and OS X allow attackers to bypass JavaScript API execution restrictions via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-1038, CVE-2016-1039, CVE-2016-1040, CVE-2016-1041, CVE-2016-1044, CVE-2016-1062, and CVE-2016-1117.
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 analysisThe application fails to correctly restrict what a user can do or reach, so functions or resources are available to people who should not have them. Attackers simply probe for the paths where the check is missing or wrong. The fix is to enforce access-control decisions consistently on every request, evaluated against the acting user rather than assumed from context.
General guidance for the improper access control class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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<= 11.0.15<= 15.006.30121<= 15.010.20060<= 15.006.30121<= 15.010.20060<= 11.0.15CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 · scopedAcrobat/Reader 11.x to 11.0.16; Acrobat/Acrobat Reader DC Classic to 15.006.30172; Acrobat/Acrobat Reader DC Continuous to 15.016.20039
- 1. Identify the exact Adobe product and version installed (Acrobat, Acrobat Reader, or Reader) and the track (Classic or Continuous for DC versions).
- 2. Navigate to the Adobe security bulletin for this CVE at https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/acrobat/apsb16-14.html to obtain the official patches.
- 3. Download the appropriate fixed version based on your product and track: For Acrobat/Reader 11.x, upgrade to 11.0.16. For Acrobat/Acrobat Reader DC Classic (versions 15.006.30121 and below), upgrade to 15.006.30172. For Acrobat/Acrobat Reader DC Continuous (versions 15.010.20060 and below), upgrade to 15.016.20039.
- 4. Install the downloaded update following Adobe's standard installation procedure.
- 5. Verify the installation was successful by checking the updated version number in the product Help > About menu.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1042 — 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-2016-1042 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data