CVE-2018-4885
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in Adobe Acrobat Reader 2018.009.20050 and earlier versions, 2017.011.30070 and earlier versions, 2015.006.30394 and earlier versions. This vulnerability occurs as a result of computation that reads data that is past the end of the target buffer; the computation is part of Enhanced Metafile Format processing engine (within the image conversion module). A successful attack can lead to sensitive data exposure.
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 confidenceOut-of-bounds read vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader's Enhanced Metafile Format (EMF) processing engine within the image conversion module. The vulnerability allows reading past the end of a target buffer during EMF file processing, potentially exposing sensitive memory contents.
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>= 17.0, <= 17.011.30070>= -, <= 18.009.20050>= 15.0, <= 15.006.30394>= 17.0, <= 17.011.30070>= -, <= 18.009.20050>= 15.0, <= 15.006.30394CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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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Locate Adobe Acrobat Reader installationOpen Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader (or About Adobe Acrobat) to display the version number and build identifier.Affected if The application is any version of Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat between versions 15.0 and 18.009.20050, or between 17.0 and 17.011.30070.
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Verify exact version numberRecord the full version string shown in the About dialog, which includes both the major version (such as 15.x, 17.x, or 18.x) and the build number (such as 30394, 30070, or 20050).Affected if The version falls within any of these ranges: Acrobat/Reader 18.x up to 18.009.20050; Acrobat/Reader 17.x up to 17.011.30070; Acrobat/Reader 15.x up to 15.006.30394.
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Identify if EMF file processing is occurringCheck whether users are opening, previewing, or converting Enhanced Metafile Format (EMF) files within the application, or if the image conversion module is processing documents containing embedded EMF images.Affected if The vulnerability is triggered specifically when the image conversion module processes EMF files, so any handling of EMF files exposes the environment.
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Confirm product type and channelDetermine whether the installation is Adobe Acrobat (full), Adobe Acrobat Reader (free), Adobe Acrobat DC, or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, as all four product lines are affected.Affected if Any of these product types are installed with a version matching the affected ranges.
Your environment is affected if Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat (any channel) version 15.0 through 15.006.30394, 17.0 through 17.011.30070, or 18.x through 18.009.20050 is installed and EMF files are processed by the image conversion module.
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 dataApply vendor patches by updating Adobe Acrobat Reader to version 2018.009.20051 or later for 2018.x, 2017.011.30071 or later for 2017.x, and 2015.006.30395 or later for 2015.x. Until patches are applied, disable the image conversion module or restrict handling of untrusted EMF files.
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- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4885 — 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-2018-4885 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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