CVE-2018-5053
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 read vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to information disclosure.
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 and Reader contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that allows reading memory beyond allocated buffer boundaries, potentially exposing sensitive information. This affects multiple older versions across three major release branches (2015, 2017, and 2018). The vulnerability is triggered when processing maliciously crafted PDF files.
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
- 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 or Reader is installedOn Windows, check the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, or look in Add/Remove Programs. On Mac, check /Applications for Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader.Affected if The software is not present on the system.
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Determine the installed version numberOpen Adobe Acrobat/Reader, then go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat/Reader to display the exact version number, or check the Windows registry at the InstalledPath key for the Version value.Affected if Unable to retrieve a version number.
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Compare version against vulnerable 15.x rangeIf the version begins with 15.x, check if it falls between 15.006.30060 and 15.006.30418 inclusive, OR between 15.008.20082 and 15.011.20040 inclusive.Affected if Version starts with 15.x and matches one of the specified ranges.
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Compare version against vulnerable 17.x rangeIf the version begins with 17.x, check if it falls between 17.011.30059 and 17.011.30080 inclusive.Affected if Version starts with 17.x and falls within 17.011.30059 to 17.011.30080.
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Compare version against vulnerable 18.x rangeIf the version begins with 18.x, check if it falls between 18.011.20082 and 18.011.20040 inclusive.Affected if Version starts with 18.x and falls within that range.
A system is affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed with a version matching any of the vulnerable 15.x, 17.x, or 18.x ranges specified in the CVE.
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 version to address this vulnerability. Organizations should inventory affected installations and deploy the appropriate security patches.
- 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-2018-5053 — 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-2018-5053 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data