CVE-2018-4899
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 initial XPS page 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 confidenceOut-of-bounds read vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat Reader's XPS parsing component. The issue occurs during initial XPS page processing where the application reads data past the end of the target buffer, potentially exposing sensitive memory contents to an attacker.
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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Verify Adobe Acrobat Reader installationOpen Adobe Acrobat Reader, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader to display the exact version number. Alternatively, check the Windows Programs and Features list or macOS Applications folder for the installed product.Affected if The product listed is Adobe Acrobat Reader (any version) or Adobe Acrobat (any version)
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Confirm exact version numberNote the full version number displayed in the About dialog (for example, 17.011.30070 or 18.009.20050). Record all four digit groups separated by dots.Affected if Any version is displayed in the About dialog
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Compare version against affected rangesMatch your installed version against these ranges: Acrobat/Reader 17.x from 17.0 through 17.011.30070; Acrobat/Reader DC 18.x up to 18.009.20050; Acrobat/Reader DC 15.x from 15.0 through 15.006.30394.Affected if Your installed version falls within any of these ranges: 17.0 to 17.011.30070, 15.0 to 15.006.30394, or up to 18.009.20050 (for DC variants)
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Determine XPS parsing exposureThe vulnerability exists in the XPS parsing component. XPS files are handled automatically when opened in Adobe Reader. Check if the application can open .xps files or if XPS functionality is present in the application.Affected if The application can open or parse XPS files, which is the default behavior for vulnerable versions
You are affected if Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat is installed with a version number matching the ranges 17.0-17.011.30070, 15.0-15.006.30394, or up to 18.009.20050 (DC variants), and the application can process XPS 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 Reader to the latest version. Adobe released security patches for all affected versions (2015, 2017, and 2018). Organizations should identify and patch all vulnerable installations.
- 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-2018-4899 — 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-2018-4899 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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