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Digital EditionsApplication · Adobe

CVE-2017-3090

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-06-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.5.4 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 Digital Editions versions 4.5.4 and earlier contain an insecure library loading vulnerability. The vulnerability is due to unsafe library loading of browser related library extensions in the installer plugin. A 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 · moderate confidence

Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.4 and earlier contain an insecure library loading (DLL hijacking) vulnerability in the installer plugin that unsafely loads browser-related library extensions, potentially allowing arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade Adobe Digital Editions to a version newer than 4.5.4. If upgrading is not immediately possible, ensure the application is not run from untrusted network locations and implement application whitelisting 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
Digital EditionsApplication
Affected:<= 4.5.4

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
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

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 Adobe Digital Editions installation path
    Check the Windows Registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\DigitalEditions or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Adobe\DigitalEditions for the "InstallPath" value, or look for 'ADE_4.5_Installer.exe' or 'DigitalEditions.exe' in Program Files folders.
    Affected if The application is installed in any location on the system
  2. Determine installed version of Adobe Digital Editions
    Locate the DigitalEditions.exe file in the installation directory, right-click and select Properties, then check the 'Details' tab for the Product Version. Alternatively, open the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\DigitalEditions and look for the "Version" value.
    Affected if The reported version is 4.5.4 or earlier (e.g., 4.5.3, 4.5.2, 4.5.1, 4.5.0, or any 4.x version prior to 4.5.4)
  3. Verify the installer plugin component exists
    Check the installation directory for subfolders named 'Installer', 'Plugins', or similar that contain installer-related DLL files, particularly those handling browser integration or extension loading.
    Affected if The installer plugin components are present in the installation directory

A user is affected if Adobe Digital Editions version 4.5.4 or earlier is installed and the installer plugin component is present on the system.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.5.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Adobe Digital Editions to a version newer than 4.5.4. If upgrading is not immediately possible, ensure the application is not run from untrusted network locations and implement application whitelisting as a compensating control.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

4.5.5 or later

  1. 1. Close Adobe Digital Editions if currently running
  2. 2. Download Adobe Digital Editions version 4.5.5 or later from the official Adobe website (https://www.adobe.com/solutions/ebook/digital-editions.html)
  3. 3. Run the installer and follow the prompts to upgrade
  4. 4. After installation, verify the version by opening Digital Editions and checking Help > About Digital Editions

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Digital Editions Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
34.0 hours of engineering $5,940
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2017-3090 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