CVE-2017-16378
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 · uneditedAn 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 due to a computation that accesses a pointer that has not been initialized; the computation occurs during internal AST thread manipulation. In this case, a computation defines a read from an unexpected memory location. Therefore, an attacker might be able to read sensitive portions of memory.
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 confidenceAdobe Acrobat and Reader contain a vulnerability in internal AST thread manipulation where an uninitialized pointer is accessed during computation. This leads to reading from an unexpected memory location, allowing attackers to read sensitive portions of memory (information disclosure).
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<= 11.0.22>= 17.0, <= 17.011.30066>= -, <= 17.012.20098>= 15.0, <= 15.006.30355<= 11.0.22>= 17.0, <= 17.011.30066>= -, <= 17.012.20098>= 15.0, <= 15.006.30355CVSS 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:3.0/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Adobe productOpen Adobe Acrobat or Reader, then go to Help > About Adobe [Product] to display the version information. Alternatively, locate the executable (Acrobat.exe or AcroRd32.exe), right-click, select Properties, and check the Details tab for the version number.Affected if Any version of Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat DC, Adobe Acrobat Reader, or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed.
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Determine exact version numberRecord the full version string shown (for example, 11.0.22, 15.006.30355, 17.011.30066, or 17.012.20098). Ensure you capture all three version fields (major.minor.build).Affected if Version cannot be determined or is ambiguous.
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Check version against affected ranges for 11.xIf the version begins with 11., compare the full version to 11.0.22. Versions 11.0.0 through 11.0.22 (inclusive) are affected.Affected if Version starts with 11. and is less than or equal to 11.0.22.
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Check version against affected ranges for 15.xIf the version begins with 15., compare against 15.006.30355. Versions 15.0.0 through 15.006.30355 (inclusive) are affected.Affected if Version starts with 15. and is less than or equal to 15.006.30355.
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Check version against affected ranges for 17.xIf the version begins with 17., compare against 17.011.30066 for standard Acrobat/Reader, or 17.012.20098 for Acrobat/Reader DC. Any version at or below these thresholds is affected.Affected if Version starts with 17. and is less than or equal to 17.011.30066 (standard) or 17.012.20098 (DC).
If the installed version falls within any of the affected ranges (11.0.x up to 11.0.22, 15.0.x up to 15.006.30355, or 17.0.x up to 17.011.30066/17.012.20098), the environment is vulnerable to this CVE.
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 dataApply Adobe security updates to Adobe Acrobat and Reader to address the uninitialized pointer vulnerability in AST thread manipulation.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-16378 — 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-2017-16378 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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