CVE-2018-12823
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, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability is triggerable via malicious e-book files or other crafted content processed by 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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Identify Adobe Digital Editions versionOpen Adobe Digital Editions and navigate to Help > About Adobe Digital Editions, or locate the application in the system program list and view its version propertyAffected if The displayed version number is 4.5.8 or lower (any version up to and including 4.5.8)
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Confirm application is processing e-book contentThe vulnerability is triggered when the application processes malicious e-book files. Check if Adobe Digital Editions is used to open or manage any e-book files (EPUB, PDF, or other supported formats)Affected if The application processes e-book files and the version is 4.5.8 or lower
You are affected if Adobe Digital Editions version 4.5.8 or lower is installed and the application is used to open or process e-book files.
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 higher than 4.5.8 to obtain the vendor patch. Remove or avoid opening untrusted e-book files until the update is applied.
Adobe Digital Editions 4.5.9 or later
- 1. Close Adobe Digital Editions if currently running
- 2. Uninstall the current version of Adobe Digital Editions through Windows Control Panel or macOS Applications folder
- 3. Download Adobe Digital Editions version 4.5.9 or later from the official Adobe website
- 4. Run the installer and follow the prompts to install the updated version
- 5. Launch Adobe Digital Editions to verify the update was successful
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 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 $1,456.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-12823 — 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-2018-12823 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