AcrobatApplication · Adobe

CVE-2017-16369

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-12-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 17.012.20098 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
An issue was discovered in Adobe Acrobat and Reader: 2017.012.20098 and earlier versions, 2017.011.30066 and earlier versions, 2015.006.30355 and earlier versions, and 11.0.22 and earlier versions. This vulnerability is an instance of a Same Origin Policy security bypass vulnerability, affecting files on the local system, etc.

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

This is a Same Origin Policy (SOP) bypass vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader affecting versions 2017.012.20098 and earlier, 2017.011.30066 and earlier, 2015.006.30355 and earlier, and 11.0.22 and earlier. The vulnerability allows locally stored files to bypass SOP restrictions and access content from other local files, enabling potential unauthorized access to sensitive local data.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat and Reader to the latest versions to obtain the security patches that address this Same Origin Policy bypass 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:<= 11.0.22>= 17.0, <= 17.011.30066
Acrobat DcApplication
Affected:>= -, <= 17.012.20098>= 15.0, <= 15.006.30355
Acrobat ReaderApplication
Affected:<= 11.0.22>= 17.0, <= 17.011.30066
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= -, <= 17.012.20098>= 15.0, <= 15.006.30355

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 installed Adobe product
    Open Adobe Acrobat or Reader, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat/Reader to display the version number. Alternatively, check Programs and Features (Windows) or Applications folder (Mac) for the installed Adobe product name and version.
    Affected if Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader is installed on the system
  2. Determine the exact version number
    Note the full version string displayed in the About dialog (for example: 11.0.22, 15.006.30355, 17.011.30066, or 17.012.20098). Record all four digit groups as the version format varies by release.
    Affected if The version cannot be determined or the product is not listed in the affected versions
  3. Compare version to affected ranges
    Compare your installed version against these ranges: Acrobat/Reader 11.x up to and including 11.0.22; version 15.x up to and including 15.006.30355; version 17.x up to and including 17.011.30066 or 17.012.20098 (depending on track).
    Affected if Your version falls within any of these ranges: 11.0.22 or lower, 15.006.30355 or lower, 17.011.30066 or lower, or 17.012.20098 or lower
  4. Check if JavaScript is enabled in PDF settings
    In Adobe Acrobat/Reader, go to Edit > Preferences > JavaScript and verify if Enable Adobe JavaScript is checked. This setting allows JavaScript execution within PDF documents, which is required for the SOP bypass to function.
    Affected if JavaScript is enabled in the PDF application preferences

You are affected if Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed and the version falls within 11.0.22 or lower, 15.006.30355 or lower, 17.011.30066 or lower, or 17.012.20098 or lower, with JavaScript enabled in the application settings.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 17.012.20098
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat and Reader to the latest versions to obtain the security patches that address this Same Origin Policy bypass vulnerability.

Fix this in Acrobat Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-16369 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-16369 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