dbcve.org
Acrobat DcApplication · Adobe

CVE-2019-16449

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 15.006.30508 / 17.011.30156 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 , 2019.021.20056 and earlier, 2017.011.30152 and earlier, 2017.011.30155 and earlier version, 2017.011.30152 and earlier, and 2015.006.30505 and earlier 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 confidence

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader allows attackers to read data beyond allocated memory boundaries, potentially exposing sensitive information from the application's memory space.

MitigationUpdate Adobe Acrobat and Reader to the latest version beyond the affected releases (2019.021.20056, 2017.011.30152/30155, 2015.006.30505 and earlier) to remediate this vulnerability.

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, < 15.006.30508>= 15.008.20082, < 19.021.20058>= 17.011.30059, < 17.011.30156
Acrobat Reader DcApplication
Affected:>= 15.006.30060, < 15.006.30508>= 15.008.20082, < 19.021.20058>= 17.011.30059, < 17.011.30156

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 checks

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

  1. Verify Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed
    On Windows, check for installation in Control Panel > Programs and Features, or look for the executable in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat DC\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat DC\. On macOS, check /Applications for Adobe Acrobat.app or Adobe Acrobat Reader.app.
    Affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is present on the system
  2. Determine installed product version
    Right-click on the Adobe Acrobat or Reader executable (e.g., AcroRd32.exe or AcroTray.exe), select Properties, then navigate to the Details tab to view the File Version. Alternatively, open the application, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader to display the exact version number.
    Affected if The version number displayed falls within any of the affected ranges: 15.006.30060 through 15.006.30507, 15.008.20082 through 19.021.20057, or 17.011.30059 through 17.011.30155
  3. Confirm product variant and channel
    Identify whether the installed product is Adobe Acrobat DC (full application) or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (the free reader). Also determine if it is a Continuous track (indicated by the year in the version, e.g., 19.x) or a Classic track (15.x or 17.x). This matters because both product types and all tracks are affected by this CVE.
    Affected if The system has any variant (Acrobat or Reader) of the Continuous or Classic tracks installed with a version matching the affected ranges
  4. Check for recent security updates
    In the application, go to Help > Check for Updates or Help > About Adobe Acrobat Reader to see the installed version. Compare this against the fixed versions: 19.021.20058 or higher for Continuous track, 17.011.30156 or higher for Classic 2017, and 15.006.30508 or higher for Classic 2015.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than these fixed versions, indicating the security patch for CVE-2019-16449 has not been applied

A system is affected if Adobe Acrobat DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed with a version number matching any of the three vulnerable ranges (15.006.30060-15.006.30507, 15.008.20082-19.021.20057, or 17.011.30059-17.011.30155).

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 15.006.30508 / 17.011.30156 / 19.021.20058 or later
Fixed in 15.006.3050817.011.3015619.021.20058
Interim mitigation

Update Adobe Acrobat and Reader to the latest version beyond the affected releases (2019.021.20056, 2017.011.30152/30155, 2015.006.30505 and earlier) to remediate this vulnerability.

Fix this in Acrobat Dc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-16449 — 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-2019-16449 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