CVE-2018-4897
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 the image conversion module that parses TIFF metadata. 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 confidenceAdobe Acrobat Reader contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the image conversion module when parsing TIFF metadata. The vulnerability allows a specially crafted PDF file with malicious TIFF images to read beyond the allocated buffer boundary, 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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Identify installed Adobe productOpen Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or Reader) to view the exact product name and version number. Alternatively, right-click on the application executable (e.g., AcroRd32.exe or Acrobat.exe) in Program Files and select Properties > Details to see the File Version.Affected if The product is Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader (including DC variants)
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Compare version to affected rangesMatch the installed version number against the affected ranges: 17.0 to 17.011.30070, 15.0 to 15.006.30394, or up to 18.009.20050. Note that some ranges indicate no lower bound (for example, versions up to 18.009.20050 are affected regardless of lower version).Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected version ranges listed in the CVE
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Verify TIFF image handling capabilityOpen a PDF file containing a TIFF image to confirm the image conversion module is active. The vulnerability triggers when parsing TIFF metadata within PDF documents, so any use of this feature exercises the affected code path.Affected if The application successfully renders or processes PDFs containing TIFF images, indicating the vulnerable module is enabled and reachable
A user is affected if they have Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader (any DC variant) installed with a version number matching the ranges 17.0-17.011.30070, 15.0-15.006.30394, or up to 18.009.20050, and the application processes PDF files with TIFF images.
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 Reader to the latest patched version. Users should avoid opening untrusted PDF files, particularly those containing TIFF images, until the update is applied.
- Consultation1.0 h
- 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-2018-4897 — 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-2018-4897 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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