dbcve.org
Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 22 Jun 2022.
Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2018-4990

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2018-07-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 18.011.20038 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges

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 · unedited
Adobe Acrobat and Reader versions 2018.011.20038 and earlier, 2017.011.30079 and earlier, and 2015.006.30417 and earlier have a Double Free vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

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 confidence

Adobe Acrobat and Reader contain a Double Free vulnerability where memory is freed twice, leading to heap corruption. This memory corruption can be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat and Reader to versions newer than 2018.011.20038, 2017.011.30079, and 2015.006.30417 respectively.

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
Acrobat DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.006.30060, <= 15.006.30417>= 15.008.20082, <= 18.011.20038>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30079
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.006.30060, <= 15.006.30417>= 15.008.20082, <= 18.011.20038>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30079

CVSS 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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Adobe Acrobat or Reader DC is installed
    Check for the presence of Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC in the system program listings (e.g., Program Files on Windows or Applications folder on macOS)
    Affected if Either Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is found on the system
  2. Determine the installed version of Adobe Acrobat DC
    Open Adobe Acrobat DC, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat DC, or right-click the application in Control Panel > Programs and Features to view the version number
    Affected if The version falls within any of these ranges: 15.006.30060 to 15.006.30417, 15.008.20082 to 18.011.20038, or 17.011.30059 to 17.011.30079
  3. Determine the installed version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
    Open Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, or right-click the application in Control Panel > Programs and Features to view the version number
    Affected if The version falls within any of these ranges: 15.006.30060 to 15.006.30417, 15.008.20082 to 18.011.20038, or 17.011.30059 to 17.011.30079
  4. Confirm the PDF handling capability is accessible
    Verify that the installation includes the capability to open and process PDF files (the attack requires a specially crafted PDF to be opened)
    Affected if The application can open PDF files and the user regularly opens PDF documents from untrusted sources

The system is affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed with a version number matching any of the specified vulnerable ranges and the user opens untrusted PDF files.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 18.011.20038
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat and Reader to versions newer than 2018.011.20038, 2017.011.30079, and 2015.006.30417 respectively.

Recommended fix High confidence

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2018.011.20040+ / Acrobat DC 2018.011.20040+ (or latest 2023/2024 releases)

  1. Close all Adobe Acrobat or Reader instances completely
  2. Navigate to the Adobe Acrobat Reader download page at get.adobe.com/reader or use the Help > Check for Updates menu in the application
  3. Download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (or Acrobat DC if licensed)
  4. Run the installer and follow the prompts to install the update
  5. Launch Adobe Acrobat/Reader and verify the update by checking Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to confirm the version is 2018.011.20040 or later for the 2018 track, 2017.011.30080 or later for the 2017 track, or 2015.006.30418 or later for the 2015 track
Caveat Standard minor version upgrade with no expected breaking changes; verify any trusted PDF certificate settings after upgrade as they may reset to defaults

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Acrobat Dc Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4990 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-4990 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data