CVE-2018-12813
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 4.5.8 and below have a heap overflow vulnerability. 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 confidenceHeap overflow vulnerability in Adobe Digital Editions versions 4.5.8 and below allows an attacker to corrupt heap memory by overflowing a heap-allocated buffer, potentially achieving arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running the application.
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<= 4.5.8CVSS 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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Verify Adobe Digital Editions versionOpen Adobe Digital Editions, then go to Help > About Adobe Digital Editions to display the version number. Alternatively, check the Windows registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Digital Editions or look for the application in Control Panel > Programs and Features.Affected if The displayed version is 4.5.8 or any version lower than 4.5.8 (e.g., 4.5.7, 4.5.6, etc.).
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Confirm the application processes EPUB or PDF filesAdobe Digital Editions is an e-book reader that opens EPUB and PDF files. The heap overflow vulnerability is triggered when the application parses a specially crafted e-book file.Affected if Adobe Digital Editions is installed and the user opens EPUB or PDF files from potentially untrusted sources.
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Check if the application is running with elevated privilegesReview the process properties of Adobe Digital Editions in Task Manager. The vulnerability achieves code execution with the privileges of the user running the application.Affected if Adobe Digital Editions runs with administrator privileges, which would grant the attacker higher-level access upon successful exploitation.
A user is affected if Adobe Digital Editions version 4.5.8 or below is installed and the application is used to open EPUB or PDF files, since the heap overflow occurs during file parsing.
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 · scopedUpgrade Adobe Digital Editions to a version newer than 4.5.8. Until patched, exercise caution when opening EPUB or PDF files from untrusted sources.
Adobe Digital Editions 4.5.9
- Navigate to the official Adobe Digital Editions download page or trusted software distribution channel
- Download Adobe Digital Editions version 4.5.9 or later
- Close any running instances of Adobe Digital Editions
- Run the installer and follow the prompts to install the updated version
- Verify the installed version by checking About Adobe Digital Editions in the application
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-12813 — 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-2018-12813 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