CVE-2020-24435
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 · uneditedAcrobat Reader DC versions 2020.012.20048 (and earlier), 2020.001.30005 (and earlier) and 2017.011.30175 (and earlier) are affected by a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the submitForm function, potentially resulting in arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Exploitation requires user interaction in that a victim must open a crafted .pdf file in Acrobat Reader.
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 confidenceHeap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the submitForm function of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC allows arbitrary code execution via a crafted PDF file. Affected versions include 2020.012.20048 and earlier, 2020.001.30005 and earlier, and 2017.011.30175 and earlier.
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<= 20.001.30005<= 17.011.30175<= 20.012.20048<= 20.001.30005<= 17.011.30175<= 20.012.20048CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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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Confirm Adobe Acrobat installationOpen Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader, then navigate to Help > About Adobe Acrobat (or About Adobe Acrobat Reader) to view the product version. Alternatively, on Windows, right-click the executable (Acrobat.exe or AcroRd32.exe) in Program Files and select Properties > Details to see the File Version.Affected if Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed
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Identify exact product versionNote the full version number displayed in the About dialog. For Adobe Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader DC, versions are displayed as year-based numbers (e.g., 2020.012.20048). For older versions, three sets of numbers appear (e.g., 17.011.30175).Affected if Version cannot be determined from the About dialog or Properties window
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Compare version against affected rangesCheck if the installed version falls into any of these affected ranges: 2020.012.20048 or earlier; 2020.001.30005 or earlier; 2017.011.30175 or earlier. Note that the year-based versions (2020.x) and the three-number versions (17.x) are separate release tracks that both contain vulnerable releases.Affected if Installed version is less than or equal to any of 2020.012.20048, 2020.001.30005, or 2017.011.30175
A user is affected if Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is installed and the installed version matches any of the three vulnerable version ranges: 2020.012.20048 and earlier, 2020.001.30005 and earlier, or 2017.011.30175 and earlier.
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 Reader to the latest version beyond the affected releases. Avoid opening untrusted or unsolicited PDF files.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-24435 — 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-2020-24435 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
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