CVE-2020-13814
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 Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 9.7.1. It has a use-after-free via a document that lacks a dictionary.
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 confidenceA use-after-free vulnerability exists in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before version 9.7.1. The vulnerability is triggered when processing a specially crafted PDF document that lacks a required dictionary structure, leading to memory corruption and potential arbitrary code execution.
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< 9.7.1< 9.7.1CVSS 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
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 Foxit productOpen Foxit Reader or PhantomPDF and go to Help > About, or check Add/Remove Programs (Windows) / Applications folder (Mac) for the installed application nameAffected if The system has Foxit Reader or PhantomPDF installed
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Check Foxit Reader versionIn Foxit Reader, click Help > About Foxit Reader to display the version number displayed as 'Foxit Reader Version X.X.X'Affected if Version shown is less than 9.7.1 (for example 9.7.0, 9.6.0, etc.)
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Check PhantomPDF versionIn PhantomPDF, click Help > About Foxit PhantomPDF to display the version number displayed as 'Foxit PhantomPDF Version X.X.X'Affected if Version shown is less than 9.7.1 (for example 9.7.0, 9.6.0, etc.)
If Foxit Reader or PhantomPDF is installed and its version is below 9.7.1, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2020-13814 when processing untrusted PDF 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.
dbcve · scoped9.7.1
Upgrade Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF to version 9.7.1 or later to remediate this vulnerability.
9.7.1 or later
- Navigate to the official Foxit website at www.foxitsoftware.com
- Locate the downloads section for either Foxit Reader or PhantomPDF depending on your installed product
- Download the latest version (9.7.1 or later) for your operating system
- Close any running instances of Foxit Reader or PhantomPDF
- Run the downloaded installer and follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation
- Restart your computer if prompted by the installer
- Launch the updated Foxit application and verify the version number shows 9.7.1 or higher
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-13814 — 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-2020-13814 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data