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Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2018-12792

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-07-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 18.011.20040 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 Acrobat and Reader 2018.011.20040 and earlier, 2017.011.30080 and earlier, and 2015.006.30418 and earlier versions have a Use-after-free vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

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

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in Adobe Acrobat and Reader versions 2018.011.20040 and earlier, 2017.011.30080 and earlier, and 2015.006.30418 and earlier. Successful exploitation allows an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied security updates to upgrade Adobe Acrobat and Reader to patched versions beyond those listed.

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
Acrobat DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.006.30060, <= 15.006.30418>= 15.008.20082, <= 18.011.20040>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30080
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.006.30060, <= 15.006.30418>= 15.008.20082, <= 18.011.20040>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30080

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 installed Adobe product
    Open Adobe Acrobat or Reader, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or Reader). Alternatively, on Windows check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\Version or on macOS check the application bundle info.
    Affected if The displayed version falls within any of these ranges: 15.006.30060 to 15.006.30418, 15.008.20082 to 18.011.20040, or 17.011.30059 to 17.011.30080.
  2. Confirm product edition
    Verify whether the installed product is Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, as both are affected. Reader DC is typically free and used for viewing PDFs, while Acrobat DC is the paid version with editing capabilities.
    Affected if The product is Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC within the affected version ranges.
  3. Verify version numbering scheme
    Check if the installed version follows the classic track (15.x.xxxxx) or continuous track (17.x.xxxxx or 18.x.xxxxx) release format. The continuous track versions use 3-digit build numbers (e.g., 18.011.20040).
    Affected if The version is exactly 15.006.30418 or earlier, 15.008.20082 to 18.011.20040 inclusive, or 17.011.30080 or earlier.

If Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed and its version falls within the ranges 15.006.30060-15.006.30418, 15.008.20082-18.011.20040, or 17.011.30059-17.011.30080, the environment is affected by CVE-2018-12792.

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 18.011.20040
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied security updates to upgrade Adobe Acrobat and Reader to patched versions beyond those listed.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Acrobat/Reader DC 2018 version 18.011.20041 or later (Classic 2017: 17.011.30081 or later; Classic 2015: 15.006.30419 or later)

  1. Identify the currently installed Adobe Acrobat or Reader version by opening the application, then navigating to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader (or About Adobe Acrobat).
  2. Determine which product line (2015, 2017, or 2018) your installation belongs to based on the version number shown.
  3. For Adobe Acrobat DC (Continuous): If version is 18.011.20040 or earlier, upgrade to version 18.011.20041 or later.
  4. For Adobe Acrobat DC (Classic 2017): If version is 17.011.30080 or earlier, upgrade to version 17.011.30081 or later.
  5. For Adobe Acrobat DC (Classic 2015): If version is 15.006.30418 or earlier, upgrade to version 15.006.30419 or later.
  6. For Adobe Reader DC: Apply the corresponding Reader update using the same version thresholds as Acrobat.
  7. Download the appropriate updated version from the official Adobe website (get.adobe.com/reader for Reader, or adobe.com for Acrobat), or use the built-in update checker via Help > Check for Updates.
  8. Install the update and restart the application to complete the remediation.
Caveat Standard minor version updates typically have minimal compatibility impact; however, test critical PDF workflows after upgrading in enterprise environments

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

Fix this in Acrobat Dc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2018-12792 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