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AcrobatApplication · Adobe

CVE-2017-3038

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-04-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 15.023.20070 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 11.0.19 and earlier, 15.006.30280 and earlier, 15.023.20070 and earlier have an exploitable memory corruption vulnerability when parsing TTF (TrueType font format) stream data. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution.

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

Adobe Acrobat Reader contains a memory corruption vulnerability when parsing TTF (TrueType font format) stream data. The vulnerability allows a specially crafted TTF font file to trigger improper memory handling during parsing, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader to a version newer than 11.0.19, 15.006.30280, or 15.023.20070. Additionally, disable JavaScript in Acrobat Reader and exercise caution when opening documents 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
AcrobatApplication
Affected:<= 11.0.19
Acrobat DcApplication
Affected:<= 15.006.30280<= 15.023.20070
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:<= 15.006.30280<= 15.023.20070
ReaderApplication
Affected:<= 11.0.19

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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. Identify installed Adobe product
    Check for Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat DC, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, or Adobe Reader installation. On Windows, check Program Files/Adobe or use Add/Remove Programs. On Mac, check /Applications for Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
    Affected if Any of the four affected products (Acrobat, Acrobat DC, Acrobat Reader DC, or Reader) is installed.
  2. Determine installed version number
    Open the Adobe application, then go to Help > About (or on Windows, right-click the executable and select Properties > Details for version information). Alternatively, check the Windows registry key: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{product ID} for the DisplayVersion value.
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or does not match standard Adobe version formatting.
  3. Compare against affected versions
    Match your installed version against these vulnerable ranges: Acrobat/Reader 11.x versions 11.0.19 and below; Acrobat/Reader DC versions 15.006.30280 and below; Acrobat/Reader DC versions 15.023.20070 and below. Note that DC Classic and DC Continuous have separate version tracks.
    Affected if Installed version is 11.0.19 or lower for version 11.x, OR 15.006.30280 or lower for DC Classic track, OR 15.023.20070 or lower for DC Continuous track.
  4. Verify TTF parsing is functional
    The vulnerability triggers when opening PDF documents containing specially crafted TTF (TrueType Font) stream data. This parsing occurs automatically when opening any PDF with embedded fonts. No special configuration is required for the vulnerability to be present in affected versions.
    Affected if The application can open PDF documents and process embedded fonts, which is default behavior.

If Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat DC, Acrobat Reader DC, or Reader is installed with a version matching or falling below the affected version ranges, the environment is vulnerable when opening PDF documents with TTF font streams.

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 15.023.20070
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat Reader to a version newer than 11.0.19, 15.006.30280, or 15.023.20070. Additionally, disable JavaScript in Acrobat Reader and exercise caution when opening documents from untrusted sources.

Fix this in Acrobat Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

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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-2017-3038 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