CVE-2018-4893
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 XPS font processing. 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 confidenceThis is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader affecting multiple older versions across three major release lines (2015, 2017, and 2018). The vulnerability exists in the XPS font processing component where a computation reads past the end of a target buffer, potentially exposing sensitive data from memory.
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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Identify installed Adobe productOpen Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader (or About Adobe Acrobat) to see the exact version number. Alternatively, check Programs and Features in Control Panel for the installed version string.Affected if The product name is Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat Dc, Adobe Acrobat Reader, or Adobe Acrobat Reader Dc.
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Compare version to affected rangesMatch your installed version number against the vulnerable ranges: 15.x up to 15.006.30394, 17.x up to 17.011.30070, or 18.x up to 18.009.20050. Note that version 2015.006.30394 corresponds to the 15.x line, 2017.011.30070 to 17.x, and 2018.009.20050 to 18.x.Affected if Your installed version falls within any of these ranges.
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Confirm XPS functionality is presentThis vulnerability affects the XPS font processing component. Verify that XPS parsing capability exists in your installation by attempting to open an XPS document or checking the product feature set. XPS support is typically included in standard Acrobat installations.Affected if Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed with XPS parsing functionality enabled.
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Check for malicious XPS filesReview recently opened XPS or XPS-derived documents in your system. Examine the Windows Temp folder or recent documents folder for .xps files that may have been processed by the vulnerable component.Affected if You have opened XPS documents using a version within the affected ranges.
You are affected if Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat Dc, Acrobat Reader, or Acrobat Reader Dc is installed with a version between 15.0 and 15.006.30394, between 17.0 and 17.011.30070, or up to 18.009.20050, and XPS document processing has been used.
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 the vendor security update to upgrade Adobe Acrobat Reader beyond the affected versions (2018.009.20050, 2017.011.30070, 2015.006.30394). Ensure patch deployment across all affected endpoints via standard patch management processes.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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-2018-4893 — 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-2018-4893 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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