CVE-2018-5042
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 · uneditedAdobe Acrobat and Reader 2018.011.20040 and earlier, 2017.011.30080 and earlier, and 2015.006.30418 and earlier versions have an Out-of-bounds write 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 · moderate confidenceCVE-2018-5042 is an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader affecting versions 2018.011.20040 and earlier, 2017.011.30080 and earlier, and 2015.006.30418 and earlier. The memory corruption flaw allows successful attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.
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>= 15.006.30060, <= 15.006.30418>= 15.008.20082, <= 18.011.20040>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30080>= 15.006.30060, <= 15.006.30418>= 15.008.20082, <= 18.011.20040>= 17.011.30059, <= 17.011.30080CVSS 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:3.0/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Adobe productOpen Adobe Acrobat or Reader, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or Reader) to display the exact version number and product name (Acrobat/Reader DC, Classic, etc.)Affected if Product is Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
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Record the version numberNote the full version number shown in the About dialog (e.g., 15.006.30418 or 18.011.20040)Affected if Version falls within any of the affected ranges: 15.006.30060-15.006.30418, 15.008.20082-18.011.20040, or 17.011.30059-17.011.30080
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Verify the product editionConfirm whether the installed product is Acrobat DC or Reader DC - the affected versions listed apply specifically to the DC (Document Cloud) variantsAffected if The product is Acrobat DC or Reader DC within the affected version ranges
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Compare version against affected rangesCheck if the installed version is 2018.011.20040 or earlier, 2017.011.30080 or earlier, or 2015.006.30418 or earlier (or the DC-specific ranges noted above)Affected if Installed version matches or is lower than any of these three version thresholds
User is affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Reader DC is installed with a version number within 15.006.30060-15.006.30418, 15.008.20082-18.011.20040, or 17.011.30059-17.011.30080.
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 and Reader to the latest patched versions released by Adobe to remediate this vulnerability. Prioritize patching for systems handling untrusted PDF documents.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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-2018-5042 — 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-2018-5042 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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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.
- 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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