CVE-2018-15955
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 out-of-bounds write 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 · moderate confidenceThis is an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader where the software writes data beyond the allocated memory buffer boundaries. This memory corruption can be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.
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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Check Adobe Acrobat version on WindowsOpen Adobe Acrobat DC, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat DC. Alternatively, right-click the Adobe Acrobat DC shortcut, select Properties, and check the Details tab for the product version.Affected if The displayed version falls within 15.006.30060-15.006.30452, 15.008.20082-18.011.20063, or 17.011.30059-17.011.30102
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Check Adobe Reader version on WindowsOpen Adobe Reader DC, then go to Help > About Adobe Reader DC. Alternatively, right-click the Adobe Reader DC shortcut, select Properties, and check the Details tab for the product version.Affected if The displayed version falls within 15.006.30060-15.006.30452, 15.008.20082-18.011.20063, or 17.011.30059-17.011.30102
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Check version via Windows RegistryOpen Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\Install. Check the Version value. For Reader, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Reader\DC\Install. Compare the Version value against the affected ranges.Affected if The registry Version value falls within any of the three affected version ranges.
If your installed Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Reader DC version matches any of the specified ranges, your environment is vulnerable to CVE-2018-15955.
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 version. Avoid opening untrusted or unexpected PDF files from unknown sources as a defense-in-depth measure.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $3,040.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-15955 — 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-2018-15955 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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