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AcrobatApplication · Adobe

CVE-2017-3049

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 heap overflow vulnerability in the image conversion engine, related to internal tile manipulation in TIFF files. 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

Heap overflow vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader's image conversion engine during internal tile manipulation when processing malformed TIFF files. The overflow occurs during tile-based TIFF rendering, allowing an attacker to overwrite heap memory and potentially achieve arbitrary code execution via a specially crafted TIFF file.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat Reader to a version later than 11.0.19, 15.006.30280, or 15.023.20070. Alternatively, disable or restrict handling of untrusted TIFF files in Acrobat Reader as a compensating control.

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 and version
    On Windows, check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\{Version} for 'VersionMax' or inspect the executable properties of Adobe Reader/Acrobat in Program Files. On macOS, right-click the application and select Get Info to view the version.
    Affected if The installed version falls within these ranges: Acrobat/Reader 11.0.19 or earlier, Acrobat/Reader DC 15.006.30280 or earlier, or Acrobat/Reader DC 15.023.20070 or earlier.
  2. Confirm the specific Adobe product variant
    Determine whether the installation is Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, or Adobe Reader by checking the application name in the Start Menu, Program Files folder, or registry entry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe.
    Affected if The product is Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat, or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC within the affected version ranges listed above.
  3. Verify TIFF rendering capability is accessible
    Open Adobe Reader or Acrobat, go to Edit > Preferences > Security (Enhanced) or check for TIFF-related plugins in the installation folder (e.g., plugins\PDFL\TIFF.im plugin or similar). The vulnerability triggers when the image conversion engine processes a malformed TIFF file.
    Affected if TIFF file handling or the image conversion engine is enabled and the product version is in the affected range.
  4. Locate the application executable for version confirmation
    Navigate to the Adobe installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat <version>\ or C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader <version>\) and right-click the executable (AcroRd32.exe or Acrobat.exe) to view Properties > Details for the exact version number.
    Affected if The executable version number matches or is below the affected thresholds (11.0.19, 15.006.30280, or 15.023.20070).

If the installed Adobe product is Acrobat, Acrobat Reader DC, or Reader version 11.0.19 or earlier, or version 15.006.30280 or 15.023.20070 or earlier, and TIFF file handling is enabled, the environment is vulnerable to heap overflow exploitation via malformed TIFF files.

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 later than 11.0.19, 15.006.30280, or 15.023.20070. Alternatively, disable or restrict handling of untrusted TIFF files in Acrobat Reader as a compensating control.

Fix this in Acrobat Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2017-3049 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