CVE-2017-3096
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 · uneditedAdobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.4 and earlier have an exploitable memory corruption vulnerability in the character code mapping module. 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 confidenceAdobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.4 and earlier contain a memory corruption vulnerability in the character code mapping module that processes character encoding conversions. The vulnerability can be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution due to improper bounds checking or validation when handling character code lookups.
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<= 4.5.4CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine Adobe Digital Editions installed versionOpen Adobe Digital Editions, then go to Help > About Adobe Digital Editions to display the version number. Alternatively, check Add/Remove Programs (Windows) or the Applications folder (Mac).Affected if The displayed version is 4.5.4 or any version number lower than 4.5.4 (e.g., 4.5.3, 4.5.2, 4.5.1, 4.5.0, earlier versions).
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Identify if the character encoding module is in useThe character code mapping module is invoked automatically when Adobe Digital Editions opens or processes EPUB or PDF documents that contain non-ASCII character data. There is no user-configurable setting to disable this module.Affected if The application is used to open or view any EPUB or PDF documents, which is the primary function of Adobe Digital Editions.
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Verify the attack surface via document handlingInspect any EPUB or PDF documents opened in Adobe Digital Editions. The vulnerability triggers during character encoding conversion when processing documents with complex or specialized character encoding data.Affected if The user has opened or intends to open EPUB or PDF documents containing character encoding data, which is standard for most ebook files.
A user is affected if Adobe Digital Editions version 4.5.4 or earlier is installed and the application is used to open EPUB or PDF documents, as the vulnerable character code mapping module is always invoked during document processing.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate Adobe Digital Editions to a version newer than 4.5.4. If immediate patching is not possible, minimize use of the application with untrusted EPUB/PDF documents containing complex character encoding data.
Adobe Digital Editions 4.5.5 or later (latest available version)
- 1. Open Adobe Digital Editions
- 2. Go to Help > Check for Updates
- 3. If an update is available, download and install it
- 4. Alternatively, visit the official Adobe website and download the latest version of Digital Editions
- 5. After installation, verify the version by going to Help > About Adobe Digital Editions
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-3096 — 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-2017-3096 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data