CVE-2018-15937
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 Acrobat and Reader versions 2018.011.20063 and earlier, 2017.011.30102 and earlier, and 2015.006.30452 and earlier have an untrusted pointer dereference 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 confidenceThis is an untrusted pointer dereference vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader. The vulnerability occurs when the software dereferences a pointer that has not been properly validated, potentially allowing an attacker to manipulate memory and achieve arbitrary code execution through a specially crafted PDF file.
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>= 15.006.30060, <= 15.006.30452>= 15.008.20082, <= 18.011.20063>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30102>= 15.006.30060, <= 15.006.30452>= 15.008.20082, <= 18.011.20063>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30102CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 installed Adobe productOpen Adobe Acrobat or Reader, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat/Reader to see the exact version number. Alternatively, check Programs and Features in Control Panel or the application's executable properties.Affected if Product is Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC with version matching the affected ranges
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Determine installed version numberNote the full version displayed (for example, 17.011.30059 or 18.011.20063). Version format is YYMM.NNNNN where YY is year, MM is month, and NNNNN is the build number.Affected if Version cannot be determined or does not match expected Adobe version format
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Compare against affected version rangesCheck if the installed version falls within any of these ranges: 15.006.30060 through 15.006.30452, 15.008.20082 through 18.011.20063, or 17.011.30059 through 17.011.30102Affected if Installed version is within any of the listed ranges, meaning the vulnerability is present
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Verify PDF handling capabilityConfirm the application can open and process PDF files by attempting to open any PDF document or checking file associations for .pdf filesAffected if Adobe is the default PDF handler and the application can process PDF documents, making the exploitation vector viable
You are affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC is installed with a version number matching one of the three vulnerable ranges and the application can open PDF 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.
From vendor dataUpdate Adobe Acrobat and Reader to the latest patched versions beyond 2018.011.20063, 2017.011.30102, and 2015.006.30452 respectively. Consider enabling Protected View for all files and restricting PDF handling in enterprise environments until patches are applied.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-15937 — 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-2018-15937 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
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